REVISED! Then there were you
by Moonlight Bunny
Summary: Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his
1. New Beginning

**Then there were you (revised!)**

**By**

**Moonlight Bunny**

**A/N:** Hi everyone! I promised you to update and now I did! I've re-written all the chapters to **Only you** and changed the title to **Then there were you**. I'm very sorry for not updating long ago, but I just lost my inspiration on continuing. And I didn't want to write until I've become a better writer. Now I hope that I've become a better writer than I was two years ago. But I'm back and my inspiration too… J well, after watching Sailor Stars and crying over Seiya for hours this last couple of weeks… haha…--;;; Anyway, I've kept the chapters as they were before, but with slight changes. Maybe lots of changes in some of the other chapters and the titles it selves. I've changed the plot too, since the plot that was in this story didn't cope with the first plot that I had planned to begin with. Btw, if you haven't read **Thoughts of you** then you should before reading this! I recommend it. You'll find out later in this story why I wanted you to read it... ;)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters in this story. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns all the SM characters!

**Summary:** Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

* * *

Chapter one: New beginning

The day that they have been waiting for was finally here. Today was the day when Usagi and her friends would be high school students for the last time. This was the day when the new door opens up for them and that they'd close the ones behind. This was their beginning to a new life, a new chapter. Peace had finally come and there were no more battles after Galaxia, or so they thought. But what they didn't know was that the wheel of Fate had started to spin again. Something was going to happen, which would change their lives and future. Maybe now, maybe forever. As of now, they were unaware of what Destiny had planned.

"_I can't believe that we're finally graduating. It seemed just like yesterday when we started here. And now we are all sitting here, even Rei, just waiting for them to call our names so we can take our diplomas. And…" _but Usagi's thoughts were disturbed by a voice she knew well.

"Hey, Usagi-chan! What are you thinking of?" asked Minako.

"I can't believe that we're graduating!" Usagi answered, smiling to one of her best friends.

"Same here. Now I don't have to worry about failing another test anymore."

"True, now you don't have to worry about school. Because now you can worry about your songs falling down from the hit list." Rei teased.

"Rei-chan, you're mean."

"You got that right, Mina-chan. Mean is Rei-chan's middle name." Usagi said.

"If mean is my middle name, then a clumsy cry baby is yours!" Rei nearly shouted.

"Hey! I'm not clumsy and I'm not a crybaby! Well, not more anyway. And besides…"

"Would you three, please stop you're bickering?" Makoto interrupted.

"I have to agree. People are watching." Ami cut in as she nodded her head towards all the students who were staring at them.

"Gomen nasai!" the three girls said and bowed their heads, sweat dropping.

* * *

As Usagi was listening to their principal's speech, she thought back on the old times. A lot of changes had happened during the years after Galaxia. The girls could finally act like other normal teens and pursue their dreams. But before this, just right after the last battle and _the departure of their dear friends_, Usagi and the others had somewhat changed. 

It took them almost a year before they could go back to their normal selves and live their lives as usual. But even so, they had changed. The outers, their families, their friends and her Mamo-chan became deeply worried about them. The destruction, their deaths and their friends' departure were too much for what the girls could handle. They had handled previous battles with hopes in their heart. They had handled their own deaths and looked at it as a way of a new beginning after being re-born. What they could never handle was their friends' departure. They knew that they would meet each other someday, but somehow doubts were planted in their mind. Would they really see them again? How can they know? How can they be sure that someday, they'll all meet and think about the past and laugh at it? They would be friends forever, but… Yes, friends would always last, just like love would last until the end of time. Friends see each other after moving miles away, in another country or in another continent, were like one out of a hundred. But this was more of a problem. This was more like one in million, considering galaxies away.

Usagi looked at her friends and smiled softly. All of them have changed for the better, but also for the bad. They have had a very rough time and there were even times when it became hard that it felt like they were falling into a deep hole. Just falling and falling into the darkness, waiting to embrace the impact from below, but never getting there.

**------**

**Minako** had joined the volleyball team once again after taking a break, which had last for a year. She had missed it so much and one day told the gang that she was going to join the team. The girls were happy after she broke the news cause she had been depressed. And quitting volleyball had seemed serious, cause they knew that besides her dreams and duties, volleyball was her passion in life.

They knew about her feelings for _him_, but brushed it off as they thought that she'd recover as always. That was everyone except for Usagi. Usagi had seen what the others didn't see in her. It wasn't because they didn't care about Minako, but they too had their own inner problems that they had to deal with and therefore never saw what was hidden. Now months after she had finally recovered from what seemed to be a very long time. She was still a ditz though not like before.

A few months before their graduation day, Minako had decided to fulfil her dreams. She was going to audition for a small role in a new series, but instead got the leading part. Now she was an actress and already recording her debut album. Even though she was now a famous idol in Japan, she still went to school. At first she thought hard about quitting or staying in school. But then decided to stay, since she had promised a long time ago to stay with her friends until the very end, which even included staying in school and graduate.

**-------**

**Makoto,** who was like the mother in the gang, had been tiring herself by worrying over everyone. At the beginning everyone was sick and tired of each other. It seemed like everyone needed a break from everything and Makoto, being who she was, suggested again and again over stuff they could do together. Anything that would put them back in the right track again. At one point she was giving up. She was tired cause there wasn't anything she could do except watch as her friends let themselves get consumed in their thoughts. Sure she had been wandering in her own thoughts herself, but made sure that she still had her feet on the ground. After all, someone had to be the strong one. As the time passed by, everything started to get back into normal and for the better… she hoped.

During those months Makoto got to know a famous chef, who helped her open her first restaurant. Now she was a famous chef herself and with her own restaurant, called The Jupiter's Light. She too had decided to stay in school and graduate, despite the fact that being a chef was hard work.

About her love life… Well, she was now dating Shinozaki. It all happened when Shinozaki transferred to their school. He and Makoto talked a lot about everything that has happened since they last met and Makoto decided to tell him about her being a senshi. Shinozaki wasn't too surprised about finding out because he had known her for a long time and he could tell if she was hiding something from him. Later on they realized that they had feelings for each other and started to date. Usagi could never be happier. Makoto had lived all her life alone, even if she was surrounded with friends, she never got to acknowledge true love. Not even when she was with her old boyfriend five years ago, until now.

**-------**

**Rei **was still as hot-tempered as ever. She started in Juuban High School, where Usagi and the rest of the girls went to, and left T.A. One of the reasons was that she had blamed herself for never foreseeing the last battle. After the starlights' departure she had locked herself behind the temple walls. She would sit in front of the great fire just to see if there was any more danger lurking around the corner, but didn't find any. If the fire didn't want to reveal anything then she had to be closed to Usagi so nothing could ever come to harm her and so she transferred to their school.

The other reason was that she also wanted to graduate together with her friends. Her father didn't like the thought of her quitting one of Japan's best private schools, he had seen it as a flaw when it came to his political career. Rei knew about this, but never cared. After all, he didn't have the right to dictate her life, when the fact was that he never was there when she needed him.

As for Yuuichirou, she started to pay more attention to those feelings, but kept it as a secret. The girls were starting to sense something between her and Yuuichirou. It was just a matter of time before she would tell him about her feelings, if she hasn't already told him. And they were already getting annoyed over when they would see Rei hang over Yuuichirou. Rei was still working as a priestess in the temple, but also as one of Minako's songwriter. And since her grandfather started to become worse by age, she also started to train more and started to prepare for the duties that she'd have when taking over the shrine.

**-------**

**Ami…** The blue haired genius, who always kept her head cool, was the worse of them all. A year ago she was on the verge of collapsing, because she had withdrawn herself into the world of books. And that was right after the last battle. She had become depressed and didn't want to tell her friends about what was on her mind, so instead locked herself for hours in her room along with her books, specially poetry books. First she had thought that books would take _him_ off of her mind, but how wrong she was. It was worse than ever, since books only reminded her of _him_. Nothing could stop the pain that she was feeling inside and just as she thought that she was on the verge of breaking down something happened.

Ryo had come back for his promise. When he saw Ami and the state she was in, he decided to do everything. And he managed to bring her back from the world she was hiding in. Soon they started to date. Somehow the girls knew that it wasn't what she really wanted, but let it go because she really needed someone besides her friends.

And just like Rei, she was also one of Minako's songwriter. She was still the top of her class, school and everyone knew that no one could ever outshine her when it came to tests, except for that one. She was still studying hard and was soon going to attend Tokyo University, with medicine as her major. After all she had always dreamed of becoming a doctor, just like her mother. Recently newspapers and magazines had been flying around her, writing about her being the best in Japan and that she had 300 in IQ.

**-------**

**Usagi,** the moon princess and the clumsy crybaby everyone know and love, had changed a lot. She was no longer a crybaby or clumsy like before. No, this time she had changed. She was elegant and more graceful. She even studied hard and her low grades became high grades. True she could still be a ditz if she wanted to, but she would still keep her grace. Sometimes everyone would stop and think, wonder what had happened to her. She had become a real lady and to top it all she took her duties seriously than ever.

Once, when Rei was walking around in town she had seen Usagi walk in to a building. Not knowing why Usagi had gone in, she followed after her. And there inside she saw. Usagi was taking a course in how to be a proper lady. Rei was amazed by what Usagi had been doing. Never in her life had she seen Usagi take anything serious as this. But she became more astounded when Usagi went in to another building where they were training martial arts. When did Usagi start with it? How long has it been going on? Was it because she was soon to be the queen of Earth? Rei had been wondering ever since then. What surprised the girls most was when Usagi told them that she was going to study law and politics at Tokyo University. That was when they knew that Usagi had changed.

One more thing about Usagi was that she was now an artist. During high school Usagi became more and more interested in art. She would lock herself up in her room, or in her studio, for hours and just paint. With the help from the music she'd draw her inspirations, especially when listening to _their_ music. Many of her motives were stars, moon, planets, but also lovers. Her fans thought that she had a bad experience in love because they found the paintings sad, some thought that she painted them by watching lovers break up. If only they knew…

"_The Three Lights!" _

She was now engaged to Mamoru after a very long relationship, but they decided not to get married just yet because she wanted to continue her studies. Ironic that she wanted to study, when she already had a career as an artist. If she had wanted to study, then she would have chosen art instead of choosing politics. But she already knew why… She was soon going to be the future queen and she wanted to be a good ruler.

As of right now, no one knew when Usagi and Mamoru would start planning their wedding. The girls had realized that Usagi's and Mamoru's relationship wasn't always that lovey dovey. They had even seen the two fight over something and seen Usagi cry countless of times. And whenever they would ask her, she would just smile and wave it off as if it never happened.

"_Strange!"_ Usagi thought as she felt a weird feeling brew inside her.

She had always wanted to be a wife and now she had the chance of becoming it, so what was holding her back? Sure their relationship was a bit rocky, but didn't every couple have the same problem? Then out of nowhere she hears whispers from a voice she hadn't heard in a long time.

-------

"_Am I not good enough?"_

"_After this concert, I'll sweep you away. I like you that much."_

"_But I wish I could have met you much sooner."_

"_I'll never forget you."_

-------

"_Nani… Why does this feel kind of familiar?"_ Usagi thought, when something happened. It was like a movie playing in the back of her head. She had forgotten about this…

**_/ Flashbacks \\_**

_Usagi and Seiya were in the rain on the roof of the school. _

"_I've never been good at trying hard. I've tried to try hard studying, but I always end up eating and sleeping."_

_Usagi started crying. _

"_When I saw the rose, I remembered him. I thought that I could be all right by myself. But I can't. I can't stand it any more. I want to see Mamo-chan."_

_"Am I not good enough? Am I not good enough?"_

_Usagi and Seiya stared at each other closely in the rain.._

**_/ End of Flashbacks \\_**

"_Seiya…"_ she whispered, not caring that her friends had heard her and was now staring with worries reflecting on their faces.

"_I wonder what he's doing. Is he happy back on Kinmoku? Must be… It's been a long time since I've seen him. Very long time…"_

But Usagi's thoughts were interrupted when Rei put a hand on her shoulder nodding towards where the principal were standing. They looked at each other for a moment and smiled.

* * *

**A/N:** Here's the first entry. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Btw, please **r/r** and tell me what you think! 

Ja ne!

**/Moonlight Bunny **


	2. The Return

**Then there were you**

**By**

**Moonlight Bunny**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the SM characters. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns them.

**Summary: **Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

* * *

**Chapter two: The Return**

Students were running out from the school. Some were crying and some were laughing, but one thing they all shared was the feeling of joy. A feeling that gushed over them. A certain feeling that made them relief over not worrying over another test or make up test. They were now officially grown ups. They were free to do whatever they wanted with their lives. And there was no one who'd stop them from accomplishing their dreams.

Among the crowd stood a group of five young women and two young men. The girls had just gone out silently, while the boys laughed. They stood outside the gates for a brief moment, before the blonde girl with a red bow started to jump up and down of pure joy. The others smiled at their blonde friend who was acting more like a child than a grown up.

------

"Oh my god! I can't believe it's over! I… I… I feel like crying." Minako squealed.

"Why? We've just gone out of High School for about… 15 minutes ago. Do you want to start school again? And so soon?" Rei teased while checking her watch.

"No, miss hello-I'm-a-hot-tempered-priestess-going-over-to-sarcasm! I feel like crying because we finally get peace here, achieving our dreams, surviving high school and now beginning a new life." Minako said with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, I can't believe it either. We finally graduated together as we promised." Ami said, while crying onto Ryo, who was comforting her.

"Me too! I feel a new beginning form. A new chapter." Usagi smiled while tears fall down her cheek.

"We all need a new beginning. And a good one too…" 

The girls nodded, agreeing with what Usagi said. They could feel a new start forming. And they hoped that it was for the good this time after all they had gone through. The girls stood there for a moment and looked at each other seeing that the other one were shedding silent tears. Then they started to laugh at each other and pointing.

"Hey, why are we all standing here for, feeling sad and crying our eyes out? Come on, let's go to my restaurant and celebrate! It's on the house!" Makoto laughed and cried at the same time.

"Mako-chan's right! What are we standing here for? Let's go before I start to cry too." Rei said with tears starting to form in her eyes.

The whole gang stood and glanced at the school for one last time. All the five girls knew that the school brought old memories, especially memories of the _three_ who once went there. Graduation was a perfect closure, so they all could start a new beginning. They stood there for a couple of more minutes before walking away from the building that now seemed so lonely without the noise from the young ones.

------

**_Later on, at the restaurant…_**

"I can't believe that my little baby girl has grown up to a young beautiful and intelligent woman. It seems only like yesterday, when I first held you in my arms, when I heard you say your first words "_Daddy"_, when I saw you take your first steps and when…" but the last words was cut by Kenji's cries and muffles like "_I'm old." _and "_I have to see monsters running after my daughter!" _;;

"There, there, honey… You're not old." Ikuko said as she tried to comfort Kenji.

Usagi watched the scene in front of her and sweat dropped. She knew that, no matter how old she was, she'd still be her dad's little girl. And the scenery there was a living proof. She shook her head and giggled as she ran and hugged her parents. They were good parents, even if they didn't know the secret she was hiding. She wanted to reveal it to them, but right now wasn't the good time since she didn't know how they would react. She closed her eyes, still hugging them, but then let go when she heard familiar voices greet her.

"Congratulations everyone, and especially you, my koneko-chan! I told you that you would do great." Haruka winked, making Usagi blush.

"We're very proud of you, Usagi-chan." Michiru elbowed Haruka and smiled as she went and hugged the blonde girl.

"Thanks, Haruka-chan, Michiru-chan!" Usagi smiled at the beautiful couple and turned around to the two other more voices, which appeared.

"Usagi-chan! Congratulations!"

"So am I. You've really grown up into a beautiful woman. And I'm really proud of you, my princess." Setsuna and Hotaru said.

"Arigatou minna! For believing in me and all." Usagi said with tears in her eyes.

Rei who was now standing beside her, gave her a nudge and smiled. Usagi looked up to her best friend and saw tears in those violet eyes. Out of everyone in the group, she and Rei were the closest. She remembered the first time she met her. Amazed by Rei's beauty and her mysterious aura that surrounded her. Usagi had always wanted to be like her and decided that from that moment Rei would be her role model. Rei was flattered when she saw Usagi try her best in everyway to be like her, it sometimes angered her. She didn't want Usagi to be like her, she didn't want her to change. She wanted Usagi to be the way she was, cause that's how she came to like the blonde girl. She had always been jealous 'cause Usagi was always carefree and innocent.

Who would've thought that the two girls would become the bestest friends or more likely sisters? They would bicker and have a tongue war, but if you looked beyond it all you would see two girls who cared for each other, who would do everything just to see the other one smile.

Usagi tilted her head and smiled as if she could read what Rei was thinking.

"I'm very proud of you, Usako!" a male voice suddenly said. Usagi turned around smiling. She knew whose voice it belonged too.

"M-Mamo-chan!" Usagi cried out while running into his arms.

"But I thought you wouldn't come until tomorrow?"

"I wanted to surprise you. Besides I would never miss my love's graduation for anything in the world." Mamoru said as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

Usagi didn't know what to say. Yesterday she was mad at him, because he wouldn't be able to attend and then he suddenly shows up and says sweet things. She didn't know what to do next. She wanted to cry, be angry with him for being mean and lying about missing this important day, but couldn't. Instead she smiled lovingly at him for coming, knowing that he had other important things to do.

The couple looked into each other, ignoring everything and everyone around them. Usagi stood on her tiptoes and Mamoru bended down to kiss the girl, who would soon be his future bride. Time seemed to stop around them. For them the kiss seemed to last forever, but for the others a short moment.

Ami rested her head on Ryo's shoulder, while he wrapped his arms around her waist. Yuuichirou was blushing and laughing nervously, while Rei's grandpa shook his finger at him telling him, that he'd better not find Yuuichirou do the same thing with Rei in front of a public. Rei just stood there with her arms crossed and sighed, shaking her head. She was going to go over and stop the scolding, but halted and felt herself blush, when she heard her grandpa tell Yuuichirou about duties, weddings and babies. As if on cue, Minako appeared behind Rei, startling the raven-haired beauty. The blonde snickered and smugly said something, which made Rei slap Minako at the back of her head. Just as Rei was going to give Minako the scolding of her life, Shinozaki came and saved the blonde, asking if she wanted to help Makoto. Minako felt relieved and mouthed a thank you, before running into the kitchen.

Haruka turned away, saying that if she didn't see anything then she wouldn't do anything. Michiru laughed softly and hugged her lover, saying that no matter where the two of them went she'd never get bored. Hotaru on the other hand didn't understand what they meant and then said something which made the couple blush, while Setsuna on the other led Hotaru away, laughing at what she just heard.

Kenji was trying hard to not go over and break the kissing couple apart. It was bad enough to know that his little girl had grown up, but it was worse to know the fact that another man had already taken his daughter away from his. Suddenly Kenji rolled his sleeves up, saying that he was going to have a one on one talk with Mamoru. Ikuko slapped Kenji hard on his head, scolding him. Shingo on the other looked at his sister and said that it was a good thing that Usagi found a man, otherwise he would be stuck with her until he himself graduated and moved out.

Everyone then turned their attention away, when noises from the kitchen was heard. And out came waiters, balancing treys of food and champagne.

"Well, let the party begin!" Makoto laughed as she opened the champagnes.

------

_**Hours later…**_

After the party ended everyone went home. The girls planned on meeting each other for a shopping spree the next day. Ryo followed Ami home, Yuuichirou with Rei and her grandpa' back to the temple, Minako got a lift with the outers home, while Shinozaki stayed with Makoto at her restaurant. As for Usagi and Mamoru, they went through their park before following Usagi home.

As soon as Usagi was home she changed to her pyjamas and went to her nightstand and took out a brush. As she was brushing her long golden hair, she thought back on her conversation with Mamoru earlier. The heated conversation they had, when they were walking through the park.

**/ Flashbacks \\**

**_In the park…_**

_A couple was sitting on a bench, staring at the lake that was reflecting the moon. They were having a discussion, which made the young woman look down at her feet. Not wanting to show her disappointment. _

"_So how long will you stay here, before you'll go back to the States and finish your studies?"_

"_Well, I'll be here for another week. But then I have to go to Europe for a conference. And I will be there 'til the end of summer before I go back."_

"_A week, huh? I'm happy for you with your accomplishment. Demo… Ano…" the blonde girl said, trying to find the right words to say._

_"Ano, Mamo-chan…"_

"_I don't want to complain, but I feel like we don't spend much time together anymore!" Usagi cried._

"_I know. I want to be with you all the time too, but I want to be a good husband for you. I want to have a great job so that I can support you and Chibi-Usa in the future. There for I have to finish up my studies. I'm this close to achieve it." Mamoru sighed in exasperation._

"_You're already doing a great job, Mamo-chan! I don't care if we live in a big house or out in the streets. I would still love you. Mamo-chan, please? Please don't go… Can't you talk with your teachers or something and…"_

"_Usako! We've discussed this already. God! Can we, just for once, put this conversation down? I don't want to ruin a great night like this now, ok?"_

"_You're right…" Usagi said, taken aback from Mamoru's outburst._

"_You're right... As always… I'm just being selfish. Gomen… Let's just spend the little time we still have left." Usagi whispered and forced a smile. _

**/ End of flashbacks \\**

Usagi sighed. She never did understand why Mamoru was so stubborn with going back. Before he would always drop everything for her, but now was different. Now it seemed like he took his studies and works over her. It's not like she doesn't want what was best for him, but sometimes she wished that he would put his work aside and just spend time with her, like they used to.

"_I've never seen Mamo-chan act like this before. But then again, all we ever do nowadays is fight."_

"_Mamo-chan, I miss you so much. I wish everything were back into normal… We're starting to drift apart. It's like I don't longer know you. Or is it me who's change?" _Usagi thought.

**/ Flashbacks \\**

_"Usako! We've discussed this already. Can we, just for once, put this conversation down? I don't want to ruin a great night like this now, ok?"_

**/ End of Flashbacks \\**

"_Maybe we both have changed? Mamo-chan… I wonder if you still love me? I wonder if I still love you?" _Usagi said to herself unnoticed to the tears that fell down on her cheeks.

They were fighting nowadays over him going away, especially to a place that was overseas. Usagi could barely remember when was the last time they had gone out without fighting. Every time their date was going to be romantic something happens. One always says something and the other one object and then they fight. Not like in a quarrel, but it was a fight where you could hear yells and cries. Usagi was saddened by it. They were always fighting and instead of talking through about it, they'd leave it unfinished until one of them starts to bring it up again.

Usagi sighed and put away her brush. She didn't want to think about this again. She was already stressed with her work and soon university. Luna and Artemis had been on the party only for a short moment, just to congratulate the girls. They were going to visit the future. They knew something that the girls didn't, 'cause they went there a lot more often than they should.

Without noticing the three shooting stars out in the night, Usagi closed her window and turned the lights off before going into the world of dreams.

------

**_Out in the park…_**

Three beautiful women in leather-clad suddenly changed into three handsome men in suits.

"Do you think they still remember us?" asked the short person.

"I don't know… It's been a long time. I wonder if they've changed? If so, how much?" said the tall one.

"Looks like the park has changed since we left, ne?" said the middle one.

"I don't care. Tomorrow we'll go and surprise the girls." the short one said.

"I wonder if miss Mizuno's still the same?"

"So that's why you didn't object when Kakyuu-hime told us about going back to earth." the middle one snickered at the taller guy, who started to blush all different shades of red.

"And what about you? Came back for Minako-san?" retorted the tall one.

"What! No way, I didn't come all the way here just to get attack by that maniac!" shouted the short one.

"And you? Still have feelings for a certain odango-haired girl?"

"That's none of your business, if I came all the way back here just for her!" the middle one snapped back.

"Yeah, right! It became my business since we were the one who comforted you through all those nights while you were crying, thinking about her." the short one spat back.

"What ever shorty…"

"Will you two stop your bickering? You bickered all the way here." the tall one interrupted, getting irritated.

------

While they were walking, they noticed that they're friend was somewhere else in his thoughts. They knew whom he was thinking of and sighed sadly. Deep inside them, they knew that returning back here was not a good idea. But then again, it might turn out fine. You'll never know… If only they knew that they themselves would be heart broken over what they would soon find out.

"_I just hope that you haven't forgotten about me… Odango…"_

* * *

**A/N:** here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please **r/r**! 

Ja ne

**/Moonlight Bunny**


	3. Fun in the trees

**Then there were you**

**By**

**Moonlight Bunny**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the SM characters. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns them.

**Summary: **Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

* * *

**Previously**

"_Ano, Mamo-chan…"_

"_I don't want to complain, but I feel like we don't spend much time together anymore!" _

"_I know. I want to be with you all the time too, but I want to be a good husband for you. I want to have a great job so that I can support you and Chibi-Usa in the future. There for I have to finish up my studies. I'm this close to achieve it." _

"_You're already doing a great job, Mamo-chan! I don't care if we live in a big house or out in the streets. I would still love you. Mamo-chan, please? Please don't go… Can't you talk with your teachers or something and…"_

"_Usako! We've discussed this already. God! Can we, just for once, put this conversation down? I don't want to ruin a great night like this now, ok?"_

"_You're right... As always… I'm just being selfish. Gomen… Let's just spend the little time we still have left." _

-----

"_Maybe we both have changed? Mamo-chan… I wonder if you still love me? I wonder if I still love you?"_

_-----_

_Luna and Artemis had been on the party only for a short moment, just to congratulate the girls. They were going to visit the future… again. They knew something that the girls didn't, 'cause they went there a lot more often than they should. _

_Without noticing the three shooting stars out in the night, Usagi closed her window and turned the lights off before going into the world of dreams._

------

"_Do you think they still remember us?"_

"_That's none of your business, if I came all the way back here just for her!" _

"_Yeah, right! It became my business since we were the one who comforted you through all those nights while you were crying, thinking about her." _

_-----_

_While they were walking, they noticed that they're friend was somewhere else in his thoughts. They knew whom he was thinking of and sighed sadly. _

"_I just hope that you haven't forgotten about me… Odango…"_

**Chapter three: Fun in the trees**

Usagi woke up the next morning, hearing the phone ring. Who would call this early in the morning? She ignored the phone, hoping that one of her parents or Shingo would answer it. But no one came to pick it up and the phone kept ringing. Usagi suddenly remembered that her family was going to go away in the morning. She quickly got up and ran downstairs to pick it up.

Maybe it was Mamoru? She was hoping that it was him, but got quickly disappointed when it was her friend instead. Not wanting her friend to hear her disappointed voice, she gave out a cheerful…

**----**

**On the phone**

"_Ohayou, Rei-chan!" _

"Ohayou! Just wanted to make sure that you were awake. Don't want you to get back into your old habit again, now do we?" Rei teased on the other line.

"Well, what about you? You don't seen to grow out of that habit of yours too? With teasing and all."

"But you still have the tendencies of getting mad and spitting back... You'll never change, ne Usagi-chan? Anyway, I called because I wanted you to be the first to hear this."

"Nani?"

"Okay! Well, I… erm… well, you see after what you said yesterday about a new beginning, yadda, yadda, yadda… I decided to tell Yuu-chan about my feelings."

"Yuu-chan? Who is…? Yuuichirou-kun!

You sure are fast with giving him a nickname... Couldn't you have gotten faster about your feelings, like 3-4 years ago? Instead of letting that poor guy wait?" Usagi snickered.

"Well, Usagi… you know what they say, True Love Waits. And I had to find out if he really loved me 'cause if he did, then he should wait."

"Wait? Dear God, Rei! He's _been waiting_ for what seemed to be an eternity. He's really head over heels in love with you. I wouldn't be surprised if he just decided to forget you and go on with another.

_So…_ Rei-chan? What did you do to make him wait all this time? Did you put a spell on him?" Usagi laughed.

"No, unlike you I relied on my beauty and charms. _Usagi-chan!_ I remember that you used to buy all those stones and mambo jambo, because you wanted a guy so much."

"Rei-chan, you're mean!" Usagi yelled, and then all of a sudden started to laugh, which made Rei a bit worried.

"Rei-chan, do you remember when he thought that Haruka was a boy?" Usagi asked.

"Yeah, I remember that. He thought that I was dating Haruka and when he saw her together with Michiru, he thought that she was a two-timer. That stupid man even tried to pick a fight with her." Rei shook her head as she remembered that event.

**-**

**/ Flashbacks \\**

_On a rainy afternoon, in a muddy field, Yuuichirou faced Haruka. _

_"What kind of a grudge do you have against me?" asked Haruka. _

_"Just fight me," yelled Yuuichirou. Yuuichirou tried to attack Haruka, but she dodged his attacks easily. Yuuichirou fell in the mud every time, but he wouldn't give up. _

_"Yuuichirou!" Yuuichirou slipped and fell face-first into the mud at the sound of Rei's voice. Rei had been walking nearby and had heard the racket. Rei ran over to Haruka. _

_"Yuuichirou, what is the meaning of this!" _

_"I see you really are with him," said Yuuichirou as he knelt in the mud. _

_"Please, don't say anything". _

_Yuuichirou walked over to Haruka, _

_"Be a man. Don't make Rei sad. Please break up with that other girl." Yuuichirou left. _

_"Shouldn't you follow him?" asked Haruka._

_"I don't know", said Rei, "He's such an idiot." _

**Later on, after an attack**

_Later, Yuuichirou awoke. He was at the train station with his head on Rei's lap. Yuuichirou jumped up in surprise and asked where the monster was but Rei said that there was no monster and that he had just slipped and fallen. Rei used the string that Yuuichirou had given her before to tie his arm in a sling. Yuuichirou recognized it. Rei laughed and said that he should give her a ribbon next time._

_"And," continued Rei, _

_"You have to apologize to Haruka. You tried to fight a pretty woman!" _

_"A woman!" Yuuichirou felt very foolish._

_Rei and Yuuichirou headed back to the temple. Yuuichirou said he didn't need any help, but he was stumbling. _

_"Don't worry," chided Rei, _

_"Hang on to me..."_

**/ End of Flashbacks \\**

-

"It was cute of him, trying to defend my honour, but that was really a stupid act. Cute, but really stupid. I would never pick a fight with Haruka-san, knowing that she's good fighter. The only one who could ever match with her strength was Mako-chan. Aaah… Usagi-chan, remember that time when he found out that Mamoru-san and I used to date?" laughed Rei.

"Yeah, and he got so mad that he walked straight into a tree!" Usagi laughed, but abruptly stopped, when she remembered Rei seeing Mamoru naked.

"Usagi…? Hello…? HELLO? Usa-chan, are you still there? Hey, Odango Atama!"

"I'm still mad at you!"

"Mad at me? What do you mean _STILL MAD_?"

"_You _saw _him_ naked!"

"What are _you_ talking about? Saw _whom _naked?"

"Mamo-chan! You saw _him_ bare naked."

"_WHAT?_ Ma… Ohhh…" Rei said as she all of a sudden realized,

"I remember now... But it was his fault for showing himself naked. And yours too."

"My fault! How can it be my fault?"

"Well, if _you_ hadn't been so _reckless_, then _his apartment_ wouldn't have caught fire. And he wouldn't have to _stay at my place_."

"Hey…" Usagi was going to say something, when she remembered that it really was her fault. She then started to laugh,

"I guess you're right. But do you remember when I dressed up as a ninja just to spy?"

"_If?_ Who could ever forget that? You looked ridiculous in those outfit, where do you actually get your clothes from, anyway?"

**-**

**/ Flashbacks \\**

_At the shrine, Rei's grandpa is talking to Mamoru. He says that it's no trouble if he could stay for a year or two. He thinks that Mamoru is a nice young man and tells Rei to make sure to catch his attention. Grandpa tells Mamoru that he needs a grandson to inherit the shrine and Mamoru would be perfect for it. Usagi tries to go get Mamoru, but the girls hold her back. Yuichiro is behind them and says that he has never been asked to be married to Rei, and Usagi says, _

_"That's because you're you!" _

_Ami says that's rude even if Mamoru and Rei once dated, Yuichiro gets mad at this too and drops Mamoru's suitcase on his foot. Chibiusa asks if that's true and the girls say it was a long time ago, and Ami says that she's looking for a boyfriend right now. Yuichiro is mad because she's looking for a boyfriend when she has him. He gets mad and walks into a tree. _

_At night, Mamoru is in his room typing and Diana says that she'll never let anyone get into Mamoru-sama's room. Mamoru says just to call him "Mamo-chan." She says she can't because he's going to be king in the future. Mamoru gets up to leave and Diana asks where he's going. He's going to take a bath and he asks if she wants to join him, and she's very surprised. _

_Rei is going to take a bath and says that she can't stay at the shrine; she has dreams, and is going to have love, a job, and a beautiful life. She goes in the bathroom and Mamoru is towelling off and he jumps back in the tub. Rei goes outside and covers her eyes and Yuichiro asks what happened. Rei gets mad at him for not telling her someone was in the bath. Yuichiro looks in at Mamoru and says he looks very relaxed. Mamoru wonders what he means. _

_Rei runs into her room and calls everyone an idiot. There's a voice and says, _

_"Who's an idiot?" Usagi crawls out from under a table in a ninja outfit and Rei asks what she's doing here at this time of night._

_"A girl in love doesn't care if it's day or night. Where's Mamoru?" Rei says he's in the bath and to go see him if she wants._

"_A bath? Did you take a peep at him?"_

"_What does that mean?" _

Rei gets all red.

"I didn't want to see that!"

"_You saw him naked!"_

_"O-only his back!"_

_"You saw his back!"_

"_You saw him naked!"_

"_Just a little bit!"_

_"You saw it, just a little bit!" _

"_What! It was his fault to show it to me!"  
_

**/ End of Flashbacks \\**

**-**

"Oh, I'm so happy for you." said Usagi.

"Yeah, and I'm… _huh…?_" all of a sudden Rei remembered something,

"What time is it?"

"It's 9 a.m. Why?" asked Usagi.

"We were supposed to meet them in about… Ahhh! 20 minutes! We talked to long!" panicked Rei.

"I have to get dressed! I'm still in my pyjamas."

"Well, get ready quick and I'll pick you up in about ten minutes. Okay?" said Rei.

"Okay. Bye!"

-----

Usagi hung up the phone and stormed into her bathroom. After taking a quick shower she went to her closet and chose a new outfit that she had bought two days before her graduation. It was a short, pink dress with thin straps. Instead of pulling up her hair into the traditional odangos, she wore a bandana that matched the colour of her new dress and braided her hair. After applying lipstick, she took one last glance on the mirror and then grabbed her purse, running down the stairs. As she was putting on her new shoes, she heard a car beep.

"_Must be Rei-chan,"_

Usagi walked out, but stopped. _It really is spring now_, she thought seeing the trees in bloom. She would have to ask her friends soon when they would have their hanami. Last year's hanami was a disaster. Mamoru had gone to Kyoto for a seminar and the outers couldn't 'cause they were busy… as usual. It was only she and the girls who had picnic, but it wasn't one of those happy picnic trips.

Ami had gone to a secluded area as usual. They knew why she wanted to be by herself for a moment, even if it took her forever to go back and be with them. Minako, who'd usually suggest doing something fun, just sat quietly. If anyone asked her something, she would just nod, not even knowing what they were asking her about at first place. Rei and Makoto were the only ones who tried making their picnic as fun as it could be, but failed. And soon they were all sitting there, under the trees miserable, why the sky was clear and sunny and the birds chirping and other things that made the whole group not fit into the picture.

This time was going to be different. This time they would have a fun hanami, cause they were all happy, right? What could possibly happen? Mamoru would be here the whole week, before he went back. The girls had gone back to their cheerful ways and on top of that, they had their boyfriends who could follow them. The outers weren't busy this month with their tour.

Usagi smiled at her thought, but was interrupted by a car that was beeping. She turned around and saw Rei outside, while having her arm inside the car, on the steering wheel. Running up to her not so patiently friend, she laughed nervously.

"_Finally_, I thought I was going to wait 'til next year…"

"Haha! Very funny, Rei-chan."

"Well, are you going inside or are you just going to stand there all day? Come on!" Rei said, as Usagi jumped into her Mercedes.

-----

**15 minutes later, outside the mall…**

Three girls were standing outside the mall, a blonde, brunette and a blue-haired girl. The blonde one was walking forth and back, while the blue-haired girl was reading a book and the brunette thinking. The blonde girl then stopped walking and sighed, as she looked at her two best friends.

How come they weren't bothered by their lateness? Why were they doing something else instead of cursing the other two for being late? As if sensing something, the blue haired girl put her book aside and looked up to her blonde friend. She gave her friend a smile and nudged the brunette girl, disturbing her from her daydreaming.

"Where are they? We've been waiting here for _a long time now_. I feel like I've been waiting for hours." Minako exclaimed.

"Actually, it's only been 5 minutes." Ami said, while checking her watch and then went back to her reading.

"I thought that Usagi-chan had grown out of that coming-late-habit," Makoto shook her head, disappointed over that her friend was going back into her old habit.

"I did, but it was Rei-chan's fault. So blame her." a serene voice suddenly appeared behind them.

"Oh sure… Blame it all on me. Part of it was your fault too!" another voice was heard.

The three girls turned around, knowing whose voices it belonged to. There in front of them stood Usagi and Rei, smiling at them. The other three girls smiled back, as they ran up to them.

"You're late. Both of you!" said Ami, while putting her book in her bag.

"Yeah, how come you're both late?" asked Minako.

"Well, I have something to tell you all." Rei smiled.

"What is it?" Makoto said excited.

"No, I think I'll tell you later. But it's great news." Rei said knowing very well that the girls hated waiting, especially Minako who liked gossips.

-----

**Inside the mall**

The girls were sitting at a café after a very tiring walk. They didn't dislike shopping, although whenever Rei and Minako was with them they always ended up helping the two girls carry the bags. Not only that, but Rei and Minako liked to walk around for hours without even getting tired. Ami, Usagi and Makoto felt that they were the luckiest girls alive 'cause there weren't any sales otherwise they would have died out of exhaustion, knowing that Rei and Minako would race and battle over clothes from one store to another.

As they were sitting and sipping their drinks, some people stared at them. They knew who the girls were, after all there had been articles written about them the past three months now. Ami and Makoto were blushing when they heard people discussing about them, while Rei and Usagi frowned out of irritation. Minako felt a bit bothered, but instead smiled and winked.

She was after all a celebrity and it wouldn't be good for her career if the media found out that she was ignoring her fans. They might call her a stuck up diva and that was the last thing she wanted to be called in the papers, columns, magazines…

-----

"_Hey, Kouichi-kun. Isn't that the actress, miss Aino Minako?"_ a man whispered to his friend.

"_Yeah. Man, she really is beau…"_ the man abruptly stopped, when he saw whom Minako walked with.

"_Are… Are those two women, Makoto and Usagi?"_ asked Kouichi to his friend.

"_Makoto and Usagi? Who are they?" _

Kouichi stared at his friend. Thinking that he must be pretty stupid if he hadn't heard about them.

"_You're kidding right? You must be a total idiot if you don't know them. Miss Makoto, the tall one, is a famous chef and the owner of that famous restaurant, Jupiter's Light. And Miss Usagi is an artist. You know that painting that I bought for my girlfriend? You know, that one with a couple standing under the stars? She painted it."_

"_Wow, they're really beautiful. And those two other women too, that's walking with them. God, I would give anything be around those girls."_ the man said.

"_Look, it's Aino Minako."_

"_Isn't that the paint-artist? Hm, Tsukino Usagi, right?_

"_That's the Shinto priestess."_

"_I guess they were right about her beauty."_

"_Hey, that's Mizuno Ami!" said a man._

"_Who? Mizuno Ami. You know they wrote about her having an IQ over 300."_

"_Oh my, there's the famous chef, Kino Makoto-san!"_

-----

**Hours later, after shopping**

The girls were walking out of the mall, two of them were just happy that it was over, two others were arguing over outfits as they were walking, while the fifth one was walking and reading her book at the same time. The brunette girl halted, causing the others to stop, and faced her raven-haired friend.

"Now will you tell us?" asked Makoto.

"Okay… Well, guys. I finally said it. I told Yuuichirou about how I felt and how much he meant to me. And I kind of blurted out…" Rei saying the last sentence in a very low voice. So low, that the girls had to get closer to hear.

"What?"

"I… told… him… that… I loved him." Rei said slowly.

"No! Are you serious?" Minako asked, not believing what she just heard. Was this the same best friend she knows, who'd rather die than admit her feelings? Minako stared at her friends with shock reflecting in her eyes, but also happiness.

"No, I'm not! I was just curios about how you all would react." Rei rolled her eyes, before winking.

"Very funny, Rei-chan. But I'm so happy for you." Minako shrieked in delight as she hugged her friend.

"About time, girl. Yuuichirou-san must have fainted out of happiness, when you told him, right?" Makoto smirked.

"I'm glad that you finally told him." Ami smiled softly.

"Yeah, I'm happy too. And yes, Mako-chan, he actually did faint."

The thought of Yuuichirou fainting made the girls laughed. They could see Yuuichirou's reaction in their head, just seconds before fainting. Soon the park, which they had gone to, was filled with laughter from the girls, who were by now laughing hysterically. Makoto had her hand in front of her mouth trying to stop, while Minako and Usagi were laughing on each other's shoulders. Ami had a book in front of her. She didn't want to be mean towards Rei's boyfriend and tried to cover her face, but sounds from her mouth betrayed her. Rei on the other hand tried to hold back as she was scorning them about her not laughing over their boyfriends and that people were staring at them, which she was right about.

Their laughs had rustled in the winds, echoed among the trees. And those, who were walking by or stood near from where girls were, were staring at them. Among the crowd, stood three young men watching the five girls laugh. They had heard familiar laughs and decided to go over to where they were hearing them. One of them was looking at a certain blonde and smiled.

"_Odango!"_

* * *

**A/N:** Here's chapter 3. I didn't change much in this, like the two previous. But in the next chapters will be a lot of changes and a couple of chapters might be put together or disappear… or maybe not. anyway, don't forget to **r/r**. 

Ja ne!

**/ Moonlight Bunny**


	4. Good news or bad news?

**Then there were you**

**By**

**Moonlight Bunny**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the SM characters. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns them.

**Summary: **Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

* * *

_**Previously…**_

_The thought of Yuuichirou fainting made the girls laughed. Soon the place was filled with laughter from the girls, who were by now laughing hysterically. People who were walking by or stood near from where they were were staring at them. Among the crowd, stood three young men watching the five girls laugh. _

"_Odango!"_

-

**Chapter four: Good news or bad news?**

The five girls calmed themselves from their laugh attack. As they were regaining their posture, Rei, suddenly felt mysterious auras aound the area. She wasn't sure if it was dangerous, but it felt familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was sure that it was the same, like two years ago. Something was going to happen again. If it was good or bad, she didn't know. But something was going to happen for sure…

As for Ami, she could have sworn that she saw Rei frown for a second. Why was she frowning? What was she frowning at? Ami knew only one thing; if Rei sensed something wrong, then it's definitely bad news. Knowing that Rei won't bring it up until she was sure, she let it go, but only for now. She was going to have a talk with Rei later about it, but not now, especially not in front of Usagi.

As the five young women started tot walk away, a dark figure was standing among the trees. The figure was smiling at them as it said,

_"Laugh as much as you can now, little girl. Soon you won't be laughing again… I promise you that…"_

-----

**At the Three Light's old apartment**

Seiya was sitting and thinking about the golden haired young woman he saw a couple of hours ago.

He and his two other partners were walking around, wanting to see how much of Tokyo had changed after they had left. There were new shopping malls, cafés, office buildings and other places they haven't been to, but some places remained the same as they were. Other places were re-built. The park where they used to go to had somewhat changed. It was still there, but it was different.

_And there…_ there at the park, they saw _them_. They had heard loud noises what appeared to be laughing, not very far from where they were. Yaten had immediately recognized them and went at the direction where they had appeared.

There not far from the lake were five young women sitting and laughing. Two blondes were laughing onto each other's shoulders, while the brunette tried to cover her mouth as she had her hand on her stomach. The blue haired girl held a book in front of her, trying hard to not show that she was also laughing, while the raven-haired was standing or from what seemed to be trying to stand on her feet as she was scolding them and laughing at the same time. They were laughing over some guy, whom they didn't know about.

The girls had changed a lot outside, if they also changed inside, they didn't know.

Seiya was a bit anxious. He didn't know if his Odango would accept him being back on Earth. She might've changed completely, but then again. This was _Odango… Tsukino Usagi, Eternal Sailor Moon… _She weren't the one who would be mean to anybody. But still… something inside him, made him nervous.

Seiya was so deep into his thoughts, that he didn't notice his bedroom door open, a couple of minutes ago. His white haired friend looked at him and sighed. He remembered when they were back on Kinmoku. Seiya would stare at the sky for hours, not caring about anything else. He made sure to get everything done, though.

Princess… no, queen Kakyuu had seen the pain in Seiya. It tore her heart to know, that she couldn't do anything to ease it. She knew what he wanted the most, but couldn't give him it. After they were done re-building the planet and reassuring that there weren't going to be any next threat, she had made a decision. A decision that made it harder for him, harder for them. She released them from their ties of duty. Her lover, the king of Kinmoku, had objected and so did they and the rest of the other starlights that had come back to life. But everyone knew that she was a stubborn woman and if she had already made a decision then no one can ever change it.

Now, they were once again back on earth due to the queen's wishes.

-

"Hey, Seiya! Still thinking about _your precious little Odango?" _Yaten said, knowing that he was interrupting Seiya from his daydream.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Seiya retorted before going back to daydreaming.

Yaten sighed and walked away. Looking at his friend, he thought,

_"Poor Seiya. Of all the girls he could have fallen in love with, he had to choose her… who already loved someone else."_

-

Leaving his friend alone, he went to the kitchen. Taiki was sitting and talking with their old manager, on the phone.

"_Aha… aha… okay! So when are we going to start recording for our comeback?"_

"_Aha… uhm… Next friday? Sure… Huh, what? Oh, this friday… What! This FRIDAY?"_ Taiki asked, while frowning.

_"But… Yeah, I know… I know… But so soon? We just arrived in Tokyo yesterday… What…? The sooner, the better… I know, but we only have today and tomorrow to rest then. Can't you try finding another date?"_

"_Okay… okay… wha… What! What did you say her name was? Yes, I know her… No, I didn't…No, I definitely didn't know about them either…Yes, we know them too… Aha…Okay, on Friday then… Bye!" _Taiki sighed and hung up.

-

Turning around he saw Yaten. Then all of a sudden Taiki started to grin.

"So, how did it go? And how come you're smiling?"

"Well, the bad news are that we have to record on Friday because a person, who's also going to record at the same studio as we are, has booked all days next week."

"WHAT! No, we can't! We're tired with re-building Kinmoku, coming back here and all…" Yaten snapped.

"But we have too. If we're going to have a strong comeback, then we must do this earlier. This person that he told me about was pretty popular. Being a famous actress and a teen-idol, I'm sure that it will be hard to fight with her being number one artist in Japan." Taiki said, while still grinning.

"Then how come you're grinning like a hyena?"

"Because she happens to be an old friend of ours."

"What are you talking about? We stayed away from every female fan except for those crazy girls, who happened to be this earth's saviours."

Taiki sighed,

"Think harder. Who's the one person, who had the potential of being an idol?"

"None that I can think of except for… Minako?" Yaten questioned Taiki, who was nodding.

"You're kidding right? Right?"

"No, I'm not. It seems like Minako-san succeeded in pursuing her dream as an idol. And that's not all. According to our manager, her friends are famous too."

"Who? You mean…"

Taiki nodded once again,

"Yes_, Rei-san, Makoto-san, Ami-san and Usagi-san_. It appears to be that Makoto-san is now a famous chef and also the owner of the very famous restaurant here in Tokyo. And Usagi-san is a renowned artist. Remember, when we passed this art-gallery downtown earlier? Remember the big painting with a couple meeting under the moonlight and wind was swirling around them? _That's her art."_

"_THAT'S USAGI'S?_ You mean, that girl who couldn't even draw Luna right is now an…" Yaten cried out.

"Yes, and both Rei-san and Ami-san are Minako-san's songwriter. Mr. Tanaka said, that they are good with writing songs, as if they had done it for a long time."

"So, that's what's become of them. Do you think their attitudes might have changed along? You know, fame _can_ change people's personality."

"I don't know. I don't think so, but we've been gone for long. And lots has been happening since our sudden disappearance."

Unknown to them, Seiya was standing on the other side of the door. He was going to the kitchen and get something to eat, when he had heard Yaten's voice. He had heard everything that had been discussed about, and now had a lot going on in his head. _His odango, an artist?_ Suddenly he remembered when he saw her earlier outside the mall. She looked the same, but different. She had her beautiful golden hair in a braid. And wore a dress, that made her look more like a woman than a girl. And the way she walked, when she walked with her friends. She was walking gracefully, more likely floating. She didn't even tripped when she ran after the girls. Her shine was still the same, but her aura was different.

"_Odango's… changed?"_

-----

**Same time, but at Usagi's house**

The girls were inside Usagi's room. Laughing and talking about the goofy stuffs they did a few years back. But unbeknownst to them, Usagi was sitting by her windowsill looking at the world outside.

It was like she knew something that the rest of the world didn't. But just some thoughts that ran through her mind. Thoughts about the past, the present and the future. Everything was already lying in front of her. The only thing she had to do was grab for it and she would have everything. In her entire life she'd loved _only one_. And that was her prince… her knight in a shining armour… her soul mate… her king… _her Mamo-chan._ The one who was her past, her present and soon to be her future. He was the one who died for her in the past. The one who saved her many times in the present. And soon he was going to be the one who would reign Crystal Tokyo together with her. They would have a beautiful daughter together.

Her daughter… _Chibi-Usa_… Her Small Lady… If she hadn't come from the future… If Pluto hadn't told her about what was to become in the future, would she still be together with Mamo-chan now? Was Pluto even authorized to tell her about the future? Was the future already set in stone? What would happen if she decided to take another path, would the future be the same, but with slight changes? Or would it be destroyed because of her?

Many thoughts were going through her head and she couldn't seem to take them off, until she felt a hand on her shoulder that brought her back to the world.

"Usagi-chan, what are you thinking of?" asked a soft voice.

Usagi looked up at the owner of the hand. Ami was smiling at her, but with a hint of concern behind her sparkling blue eyes.

"Not-nothing, Ami-chan." Usagi tried to smile back, but her blue eyes failed to hide the sadness that she felt.

"Liar," Ami smiled, while looking at the world outside. Then Ami frowned and looked back at her dear friend.

"I know you too well, Usagi-chan. I can tell when you're lying or not."

"How can you tell?" asked Usagi, who was now staring at the sky.

"Because you've always been a bad liar and I can see it in your eyes. I can see in your eyes that something is bothering you. Do you want to tell me or would you prefer to keep it?"

"It's about Mamo-chan, and me. And… and about our future." Usagi said after hesitating.

"It feels like we're drifting apart. I don't know why, but it's a feeling that I've had _ever since…_

Well, his kisses aren't the same. I can't feel any passion from him any more and the way he's looking at me. I can't see love that used to shine brightly in those eyes. I just can't feel anything from him. Is it just me or are we starting to become more and more distant?" Usagi asked with tears showing in her eyes.

"Oh, Usagi-chan. I'm so sorry… It must be really hard on you. After everything you two have gone through."

Usagi looked up at her very best friend, now with tears that threatened to fall down her porcelain cheeks,

"I'm going to be the cause of Crystal Tokyo's downfall, aren't I? And… and what about Chibi-usa? Can I live on, knowing that I caused the death of my own future child?"

"Usagi-chan, please don't cry. I know that you love her dearly and that you'd rather die, than seeing her hurt. I know that you love everyone so much, that you're even willing to sacrifice your own happiness for others' sake. But don't you think that it's time that you think of yourself? Just for once in your life? You saved the world, not just once but thousands of times. You even let us pursue our dreams knowing that we won't be seeing each other a lot. Risking your own safety just to see us happy with our dreams, goals."

"But…" Usagi was going to say something, but was interrupted by Ami,

"No, Usagi-chan. No, buts! You should follow your own dreams, without having the knowledge of what lies in the future. It's not fair that you should be carrying such a heavy burden as this one. None should carry this burden, knowing that everyone's future is depended on one person's acts." Ami wisely said, while showing the sadness that she now was feeling for her friend.

Laughter from Rei, Minako and Makoto were heard in the background. They were busy gossiping about their boyfriends and about Minako's new date, that they didn't notice that Usagi was crying and Ami patting her back.

"Pluto did the wrong thing, showing the future. What she did was truly wrong. Did she even have the rights, as the time guardian, to show the future? But then again, she must have had her reasons for why she did what she just did."

"Ami, I…" Usagi said, but was once again interrupted.

"Usagi-chan, do what you think is best for you. Don't think about us, but for once think about you! You've done that for us a lot of times. Now it's your turn to have the same happiness as we have. If you want to be with Mamoru-san, then be with him. If you want to be with someone else, then do it. We won't interfere and tell that it's wrong leaving Mamoru. As long as you are happy together with the one you love, then we are happy. It's your decision, not ours, not the outers and definitely not Mamoru-san."

Then Ami smiled warmly at Usagi,

"Remember, that the future isn't set in stone. It doesn't lie around the corner, waiting for you to grab hold of it. The future is what you create with your very own hands."

Usagi looked up to her friend. Smiling back, she said,

"Thanks Ami-chan… For listening and for understanding."

"You're welcome. Just don't be afraid of telling what you're feeling. And remember, about what I said about creating your own future. We'll be supporting you one hundred percent."

The two friends look at each other and smiling, when,

_"Hey, Ami-chan! Usagi-chan!_ What are you two smiling about?" Minako asked, while trying to keep herself from laughing like a hyena.

"Oh, we were just having a conversation, by ourselves." Usagi beamed.

"Oooh… want to share your secrets to the rest of us?"

"Uh… I don't think so." Ami grinned, while watching her three other friends trying to restrain themselves from laughing harder from one of their story-telling.

"Meanie!" Minako pouted, before sticking out her tongue.

But then Ami responded by throwing a pillow at Minako, who easily dodged it, but instead hit Makoto. Makoto threw back a pillow at Ami, but hit Usagi. Usagi, who didn't have the chance to duck, also took a pillow and threw it in the air, which smacked Rei right on the face.

"Oops… Sorry, Rei-chan. I missed Mako-chan."

"Missed? What do you mean, _missed?_ She was right in front of you, but instead threw it at me? Why, you little…" Rei never finished her sentence, because another pillow hit her, but this time from Minako. And soon a pillow fight started. But everyone stopped from the sound of the phone ringing. Usagi ran quickly to answer,

-

_"Moshi, moshi."_

"…"

"_Oh, hi Mamo-chan!"_

"…"

"_Tomorrow? Where?"_

"…"

"_I love you too."_

"…"

"_Okay, bye!"_

_-_

Usagi hung up the phone again; turning back to her friends she gave them a weakly smile. Then her friends, all of a sudden, saw Usagi falling down on her knees. She started to sob uncontrollably, while mumbling "_Mamo-chan"_.

-----

At another place, in an apartment, a man had just hung up the phone. A pair of slender arms came and wrapped him. Smiling, he turned around and bent his head down towards the woman. The woman had long blonde hair that covered parts of her body. Her green eyes were deeply staring in his. She gave him a playful smile as she whispered softly into his ears,

"Now where were we?" as she kissed him and pulled him back to the bedroom…

* * *

**A/N:**

hohoho… naughty, naughty. Guess three times, who it is? So what did you think about this chapter? The last part was a little present from me… kidding! but I do have a present for you all later as this story continues. I'll let you know, when it'll come. But for now you'll have to wait. Don't forget to review!

Ja ne, minna-san!

**/Moonlight Bunny**


	5. Surprises are fun, part 1

**Then there were you**

**By**

**Moonlight Bunny**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the SM characters. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns them.

**Summary: **Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

* * *

**_Previously..._**

_Usagi picked up the phone,_

_"Moshi, moshi. "_

"…"

"_Oh, hi Mamo-chan!"_

"…"

"_Tomorrow? Where?"_

"…"

"_I love you too."_

"…"

"_Okay, bye!"_

_Usagi hung up the phone again; turning back to her friends she gave them a weakly smile. Then her friends, all of a sudden, saw Usagi falling down on her knees. She started to sob uncontrollably, while mumbling "Mamo-chan". _

_-----_

_At another place, in an apartment, a man had just hung up the phone. A pair of slender arms came and wrapped him. Smiling, he turned around and bent his head down towards the woman. The woman had long blonde hair that covered parts of her body. Her green eyes were deeply staring in his. She gave him a playful smile as she whispered softly into his ears,_

"_Now where were we?" as she kissed him and pulled him back to the bedroom…_

_-_

**Chapter five: Surprises are fun, part 1**

The girls immediately ran to their friend's side. Worried over, what just happened. They all wanted to know what happened during her conversation with her boyfriend, but right now wasn't the right time to ask.

"Usa… Usagi-chan, what's happened?" asked Rei.

_"He… tomorrow… heard… why…? Mamo-chan…"_ was heard from Usagi.

The inners looked at each other, blinking clueless, before saying,

_"Huh?"_

_"I said… leaving… background… don't know…"_ words that no one could hear except Usagi, were once again heard.

"Did anyone hear that?" asked Makoto.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say, NO!" Rei said.

"Oh, Usagi. What did Mamoru-san say?" Minako asked.

"He… he said that… that he'll be leaving tomorrow, so he had to cancel our date. And then… and then…"

"Usagi-chan, you don't have to tell us now. You can tell us later, when you feel for it."

"No, no… I can tell you now. It'll be harder later."

"Okay"

"I heard someone laughing in the background, a woman's voice. But I'm not sure. She was calling him Mamo-chan. But I… but I pretended that I didn't hear it."

-

**_/ Flashbacks _**

_"Moshi, moshi."_

"_Hey, Usako. It's me."_

"_Oh, hi Mamo-chan!"_

_A long silence occurred, but then Mamoru said,_

"_I hope that you won't get mad, but I have to cancel our date for tomorrow. Something came up and I have to fly back to the States."_

"_What? Why?" Usagi thought, but then asked,_

"_Tomorrow? Where?"_

"_Yes, can you meet me at the airport at five? My teacher wanted me to show all her colleagues some of my work." Mamoru started to tell, before saying,_

"_I have to start packing. But I'll see you tomorrow then. I love you."_

"_I love you too."_

_A woman's laugh was heard in the background._

"…_Mamo-chan! Are you finished talking to that little girl? God, sometimes I wonder why…" but the woman's voice was suddenly quietened by a low shush. _

"_Ehm… I have to go now. Bye, Usagi."_

"_Usagi? Did I hear it right? No, it can't be…" Usagi thought, while saying,_

"_Okay, bye!"_

**_/ End of Flashbacks _**

-

Usagi finished her story. Looking down sadly, she didn't notice Makoto clenching her fists and Rei frowning, cursing Mamoru under her breath. Ami was just shaking her head, while Minako seemed to be exploding anytime soon. Suddenly Makoto stood up and started to run out of Usagi's house. Usagi and the others got quickly up and ran fast after Makoto. They knew where she was headed to and worried that if they didn't get to her then something terrible might happen.

-----

Makoto dashed down the streets. Ignoring the people who stopped to see what was going on, she quickened her pace. She could hear her friends call out after her, but didn't listen. She didn't stop either. She had only one thing in her mind and that was to find out what was going on with the man, who was supposed to be her best friend's lover.

She ran into the building where Mamoru's apartment was. Following Makoto, Rei could have sworn that she heard Makoto say that she would beat him into a pulp. Usagi ran by the girls and soon gained behind Makoto. She ran in front of the tall girl, which made the tall girl halt instantly afraid of crashing into her friend.

"Usagi-chan, out of my way. I'm just going to beat him up."

"Mako-chan, please don't! I don't want any fight." Usagi said, trying to calm the taller girl.

"Fight? Who said anything about a _fight?_ I'm just going to talk with him calmly, before I start to rip him in pieces!"

"No, you can't!"

"Why not?"

"Be-because!" Usagi stuttered.

"What do you mean because? Don't tell me that you still love him after all he's done to you!"

Usagi bit her lip, knowing that what Makoto said was true.

"Tell me Usagi-chan, how many times have you gone running home, crying because of him? How many times have I heard you defend his sorry excuses? How many times, Usagi-chan? How many?" Makoto practically yelled, tears forming in her eyes.

"You know I 'm right. I've seen it happen a lot of times. I won't let it happen to you again!"

"Mako!"

"Usagi-chan… Remember the first time you came and befriended me?"

Usagi nodded.

"I made a promise that very same day, that _no one _was ever going to hurt you.

Usagi-chan, you are one of my dearest and bestest friends and you mean a lot to me. I'm hurt, when you're hurt. And now that he's been hurting you, I'm going to hurt him too. Not emotionally, but physically. So if you excuse me, I have to go to that so called boyfriend of yours and…" Makoto was interrupted by the inners, which by now gained to them.

_"Mako-chan! Usagi-chan!"_

"Thank God, we made it in time." Minako panted.

"Mako-chan, don't do anything that you might regret doing." Ami said under her breath.

"Regret what? I won't regret anything after I'm finish with him and that whore of his."

"Mako-chan!" Usagi cried out.

"Mako-chan, if you're going to deal with him, would you at least let me deal with his tramp?" Rei said, cracking her knuckles.

"Rei-chan!" Ami cried out, comforting Usagi.

"What? Makoto's right. He doesn't deserve Usagi after all he'd done to her." Rei said in defence.

"Maybe, you're right. But that doesn't mean that we have to solve everything with violence. And hurting Mamoru-san won't make Usagi-chan feel better." Ami sighed.

"Ami-chan's right. Let's just go and talk with him. _Calmly!_ Maybe it was just a misunderstanding." Minako said, seeing both Makoto and Rei clench their fists.

Makoto and Rei groaned, while Minako and Ami walked with a crying Usagi. As they were walking towards Mamoru's apartment, Usagi suddenly stopped.

Did she really want to find out? What if it was just a misunderstanding, like Minako said? She didn't want to make everything worse than it already as, and she definitely didn't want the gap between her and her Mamo-chan to grow bigger because of some misunderstanding. She fought for a while with her decisions, before coming to a conclusion that going over to his place was a bad idea, just because she thought she heard a woman's voice.

"I don't want to go in. I don't think I want to meet him, not after today."

The inners looked at each other, before nodding.

"Okay, Usagi-chan. If you don't want to, then you don't have to." Ami said softly. Usagi looked at the rest of the girls, who were all looking at different directions.

"Guys…?"

"Yeah… sure Usagi-chan. Let's walk you home." Makoto responded.

"What about you two?" Usagi asked Rei and Minako.

"Ehm… well, we have to… to…" Minako stammered.

"We have to go to the studio, because Minako's going to try out my new song that I wrote." Rei finished.

"Yeah, that's right! So we'll be coming over later, if it doesn't bother you?" Minako said, nodding her head and sweat dropping.

"No, it's okay. Come over later then." Usagi said and walked.

Ami frowned, but then said,

"Okay, we'll see you later then."

Makoto eyed Rei and Minako suspiciously, before walking with Ami and Usagi.

-----

After the three went, Rei and Minako looked at each other before they nodded their heads and continued to walk to Mamoru's apartment.

Standing in front of his door, Rei slowly opened the door and walked in. Minako followed in quietly after Rei. Inside they could hear murmurs and laughter turn into groans. Rei and Minako went to where they were hearing noices. The noices led them to Mamoru's bedroom. Minako and Rei opened the door quietly and peeked in.

Gasping, they saw Mamoru in bed with another woman. Rei quickly closed the door. Shocked over what they saw, they turned into anger. Minako was now cracking her knuckles, while Rei was tightening her fists. They pushed the door open, startling both Mamoru and the woman. Realizing that they were caught, Mamoru stuttered out,

"R-Rei-chan? Minako-chan?"

"That's _Hino_ for you!" Rei said, walking to Mamoru.

"And _Aino_!" Minako followed.

"Hey! Who do you think you are? Storming in here?" the woman said angrily.

"Who do we think we are? Who do you think you are? Stealing someone else's fiancée!" Minako growled to the woman.

"Humph… She never deserved him anyway!" the women spat back, but soon regret it as Minako pushed her to the wall.

"You better think first before saying anything!"

"Hey, wait a minute now…" Mamoru said, but was stopped in the middle of his sentence by Rei's slap.

"How dare _you? _You… you cheating bastard!"

Mamoru looked at Rei, who by now had tears in her eyes.

"Rei, I…"

"Usa-chan never deserved this. I honestly thought that you would treat her well. But I guess I was wrong."

"I can explain…"

"There's nothing to explain here. We've seen it all and this whore is a walking evidence!" Minako interrupted Mamoru, still pinning the woman to the wall.

Rei went to Minako and looked at the woman with spite in her eyes. The woman looked at the two young women, fear were starting to show in her green eyes. Observing her, Rei noticed that she had met her before and let out a gasp of shock.

-

**_/ Flashbacks _**

"_Hey, Mamoru-san. How are you?"_

"_I'm fine."_

_Long silence occurred between them before hearing a woman's voice behind Mamoru._

"_Chiba-san, there you are!"_

_The woman ran to them._

"_I've been looking all over for you. Now don't forget that I want that report of yours by friday."_

"_Yes, Namiki-sensei. Oh, by the way! Sensei, this is Rei-chan. She's a very good friend of my fiancée's and mine. And Rei-chan, this is Namiki Ayame-sensei."_

"_Pleasure to meet you" Rei said, smiling at the woman._

_**/ End of Flashback **_

-

"So _Ayame_, did you two have fun?"

"Ayame? You've met her before, didn't you Rei-chan?" Minako said.

Rei paused for a bit before nodding and answering Minako.

"Yes Mina-chan. I've met her before. Mamoru introduced her to me. She's his teacher or at least, _that's what he said_."

Minako gasped. Watching Rei eyeing the woman, she turned to Mamoru with disbelief in her eyes. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be! He loved Usagi above all. He had always been faithful to Usagi, but maybe he wasn't, after what she had just witnessed.

"Is… Is this true?"

Mamoru turned away, answering,

"Yes… yes, it's true."

"You son of a bitch. You've done this for a long time now, haven't you? And we always told Usagi to stay with you, that it was important for everyone even though we knew that your relationship were already falling apart." Minako nearly screamed.

She felt sad for her friend, who was completely clueless. How will they tell her? What would happen to the future? Most importantly, what would happen to Usagi when she finds out? Minako didn't know what to do. She looked from the woman to Mamoru. It was hard for her to understand, if there ever was an explanation to it all.

She wanted to cry, cause she could feel inside that the love link between her friend and him was slowly fading away. The powerful link that had always shined was starting to tear apart. And it was sad to know that love was once again taken away from two lovers. It was sad… she could feel her heart cry, but put it aside, when she looked at the man in front of her. Now wasn't the time. The pain was soon replaced by anger. And that anger was directed towards him and the blonde woman, but mostly to _him._

Ayame, who was still pinned to the wall, smirked

"Why? He would have sooner or later left her. Left her for me. Stupid girl! I bet that all she was good for was…" Ayame never got to finish her line, because of Rei's hard slap.

Holding her cheek, she looked up to Rei. Fears were now showing in her eyes. The fiery priestess looked at Ayame, glaring at her she hissed,

"Don't you dare say anything about Usagi. _Not in front of me."_

Rei let go of Ayame and started to walk out of the room. Minako followed; before she walked after Rei, she glanced at the woman. Eyeing her up and down, she felt disgusted, to know that there were really other women who would stoop low as to steal someone elses. Mamoru ran to Ayame and helped her up. Rei and Minako went towards the door, but before they went out they turned around.

"Go back to the states and bring that whore with you. There, you two can fuck in peace or what ever. I don't care, but remember this!" Rei started

"Don't you come near Usagi-chan…" Minako continued.

"_Ever again_. If you do, then we promise you that we will hunt you down like the cheating scum you are…"

"And we will rip you apart, limb from limb…"

"Starting with that manhood of yours that we will shove down your throat. _Are we understood?"_ Rei ended as they both turned around and walked out of Mamoru's apartment, leaving a shocked Mamoru and a frightened Ayame.

-----

**At another place**

"The waves are angry." A woman said.

"I feel it. The winds are changing roughly."

"Something must have happened. Haruka, do you think…" Michiru said, as she turned to her partner.

"I think so, Michiru."

A girl stepped inside the room and said with tears in her eyes,

"The prince is leaving the princess. A new destiny is shaping."

"A new destiny?" Haruka frowned.

Hotaru nodded as she continued,

"Yes, but there are two different paths that the princess must choose."

"And those are?" Michiru wondered.

"One is going to lead her to love and happiness."

"And the other one?" Michiru asked.

_**- Silence -**_

"Hotaru?" Haruka frowned, worried over the little girl's silence.

"The other one will lead her to sorrow and loneliness…"

Hotaru paused, but then continued,

"And possibly her death."

Haruka and Michiru gasped at Hotaru's answers.

-----

After Rei and Minako left Mamoru's apartment, they started to walk towards Usagi's house. They didn't know what to think. They were pretty much shaken with the event that just happened. Never in a million years, would they have thought of Mamoru as a two-timer. But there it was, clearly. Mamoru had just done what others before him did… _being unfaithful_. Now how were they going to tell this to the others, to Usagi?

All of a sudden Minako started to laugh. Rei stopped in her tracks and gave her a _what-the-hell-just-happened?_ -stare. Minako was trying hard not to fall down, while Rei just stood there and stared dumbfound. Was it too much for her blonde friend to take in, that she became crazy? Rei had thought.

**_Five minutes later…_**

Minako stopped and tried to catch her breath. When she had calmed herself down, she glanced at Rei before she started to laugh again. Rei, who started to get tired of Minako's sudden behaviour, gritted her teeth, as her eyebrow twitched. Minako finally stopped, when she noticed that Rei was glaring at her. Minako looked at her questionably, as Rei said,

"Are you finished?"

"Finished what?" Minako just stood there staring at her.

"What do you mean _finished what_? A few minutes ago, you were laughing like a hyena. What was that all about?" Rei shouted angrily. Minako, which by now remembered, started to giggle. As she was trying hard not to laugh like a hyena again, she answered back,

"Honestly, Rei-chan. You're just like Ami-chan. A miss _Goody-to-shoes_!"

"What do you mean, _goody-to-shoes_?"

"Come on! Manhood? Admit it. You can't say the word, because you're too embarrassed." Minako teased, as she stuck her tongue out.

"What do you mean _I CAN'T_? I _can _say that word, but I _choose _not too because unlike you I was raised as a proper lady."

"Oh sure. And I'm not? Please…" Minako rolled her eyes as she continued,

"Remember Rei-chan, when we all went to that princess seminar? You, me and Usagi were the only ones who failed at the exams. So that means, we are not lady-like if we failed the tests…"

**_-_**

**_/ Flashbacks _**

_Usagi was dancing with a guy and stepped on his foot. Then Usagi tripped over her own dress. Rei, Ami, Mako, and Minako were there too. Ami and Mako were dancing very gracefully. But Rei and Minako were bad at dancing. Rei, Minako, and Usagi stepped on their partner's feet. All of the girls passed the princess seminar except for those three._

**_/ End of Flashbacks _**

-

"Well, I wouldn't have failed, if that guy's foot weren't in the way." Rei huffed as she pulled away a few hair strands from her face.

"Anyway, I'm glad that we failed, if not then we would have been turned into living statues. But what are we going to do?"

"Do what?"

"I mean, how are we going to tell Usagi that we just caught Mamoru, _her boyfriend, fiancée, future king and soul mate_, in bed with another woman?"

"I know. I hate to tell her. It would kill her, if she finds out the truth. Demo she has to know."

"Maybe we should wait?" Minako suggested.

"No, she has to know, even though it's going to kill her. It's better we do it now then later."

"Maybe we should ask Ami-chan first of what to do?"

"Maybe, but you better restrain Makoto first then." Rei answered back, remembering Makoto's last actions.

"Poor Usagi-chan, I really thought that Mamoru was a nice guy. Now I know that he's just like the others. Only thinking about power, money and women." Minako sighed, as they walked away towards Usagi's house.

------

**Usagi's house**

Rei and Minako walked up to Usagi's room. They knocked before going inside. Usagi was sitting by her window,staring outside. Ami was sitting by the bedside, concern was showing all over her face, while Makoto was leaning by the wall, lost in her own thoughts. Minako went to Ami saying that they needed to talk, while Rei gave Makoto a signal of going outside. The inners went out to the hallway.

"What is it?" Makoto asked.

"Okay, before we tell you, we need to be a bit quiet. And Mako-chan, don't blow up now like you did the last time." Rei whispered.

Makoto glared at Rei, before nodding. Rei held her breath before she started to let them know,

"Minako and I didn't go to the studio, because… because…"

"Because we went directly to Mamoru after you all three went." Minako finished.

"When we went inside, we heard voices. One was Mamoru's and the other one belonged to a woman." Rei continued.

"Guys, we caught Mamoru in bed with another woman." Minako said.

Both Makoto and Ami gasped at Rei's and Minako's story. Shocked over finding out, Ami clenched her fists. Makoto was just standing still, not saying a word. Rei and minako started to get ready for Makoto's outbreak, but nothing happened.

_**Ten minutes went…**_

Makoto was still standing, not saying anything. Not even her eyes moved. The girls were staring intensely at her, waiting for any movements. Anything… They were afraid of that Makoto would run back to his place and beat him up, but this time to death. Ami and Rei exchanged worried glances, but then sweat dropped when looking at their blonde friend.

"Ehm… Mako-chan? Hello? Anyone there?" Minako waved her hand in front of Makoto's face.

"Do you think that the news was too much for Mako-chan to take, that she went into a coma or something?" Minako asked, turning around.

"No, I don't think so. She'll be fine. She's just shocked." Ami responded.

"Do you think Usagi's and Mamoru's break up will traumatize her?" Minako asked.

"I hope not." Rei sweat-dropped,

"Anyway, Ami-chan. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should wait and see." Ami suggested.

"But…"

"That's what I told her too, but nooo…" Minako cut off.

"Minako!" Rei hushed.

"What?"

"How loud can you get? Usagi is on the other side of that door." Rei pointed,

"If you were in Usagi's place, would you want to be the last one to know?"

"No, you're right. But this is Usagi we're talking about." Minako reminded.

"I know, but Usagi's strong. She can handle the truth." Rei said.

"And if she don't?" Ami asked.

The inners stood quiet, looking at each other until,

"_I'm going to kill that bastard, slowly and painfully."_ A voice said out loud.

Rei, Minako and Ami turned around and saw that Makoto had woken up. They were right. Makoto was going to run once again to Mamoru's place, but she didn't even get the chance to move her foot,cause Minako, Ami and Rei trapped her to the ground.

"Let go of me." Makoto yelled, but Minako put a hand on her mouth to silence her.

"_Quiet,_ Usagi-chan mustn't find out!" Rei hissed. A muffle was heard from Makoto.

"What?" Minako said. Another muffle was heard.

"Minako-chan, maybe you should take your hand away from Makoto's mouth?" Ami suggested.

"Oh… sorry." Minako laughed nervously as Rei and Ami sweat-dropped.

"Okay, but before I take away my hand, you have to promise not to talk loud. Okay?"

Makoto nodded her head and Minako took away her hand.

"What do you mean Usagi-chan mustn't find out?" Makoto hissed.

"We've decided to let her find out by herself."

"But that would devastate her."

"We know, Mako-chan." Rei sighed.

"If you all agreed to it, then it's fine by me. Demo could you at least let go of me?"

_"NO!"_ Ami, Rei and Minako said together.

"What? Why not?"

"If we do that, then you must promise not to go to Mamoru-san and kill him." Ami said.

"No! Why not?"

"Because he doesn't deserve that, even though he's a cheating scum." Rei answered back.

Makoto sighed,

"Okay, would you please let go of me now?"

"Promise?" Minako asked.

"No!"

"Then we won't let go of you." Rei calmly said.

"_You must_ promise!" Ami pleaded.

Makoto groaned as she said,

"Okay, but I can't promise you that I'll ignore him the next time I see him."

Rei, Ami and Minako looked at each before nodding their head and letting go of Makoto. This was the best thing they could do. And they couldn't trap her to the ground that long, for Usagi might come out and that would make her suspicious.

"So what are we going to do now? Usagi-chan's going to meet him tomorrow." Makoto asked.

"Shoot! I forgot that!" Minako cried.

"Well, we have to follow her tomorrow and act like nothing happened." Rei suggested, while the rest of the inners looked at her for a minute before nodding their head, agreeing.

-----

**_The Three Light's apartment_**

Seiya was rocking back and forth in his bed. Sweat beads ran down his forehead while he was sleeping. He seemed to have a nightmare and by the look on his face, it was a disturbing one. The one, that would make you quickly sit up and cry.

-

_**/ Dream sequence **_

"_Seiya, help me!" a voice cried out. It was filled with fear and sorrow._

"_Who are you? How can I help you?" Seiya shouted out._

"_Help me!"_

_The voice cried, as it went further and further away._

"_Chotto matte!" _

_Seiya was running, not caring to where he was running._

"_Seiya!" _

_A scream was heard, then silence._

"_NO! Wait!" Seiya panicked as he ran faster to where he heard the scream._

_As he neared the place, he saw a form lying on the ground. He ran to it and saw that it was a woman. The woman was lying in a pool of blood. Seiya went on his knees and turned the woman to his side, so that he could see whom it was. Pulling away some hair from her face, he gasped…_

_**/ End of Dream Sequence **_

-

Seiya quickly sat up from his bed. Gasping for air, tears formed and ran freely down his cheeks. He had been having the same dream lately, even on Kinmoku. It had all started when he was outside looking at the stars when this familiar voice came to him. _Her voice._ It had called out to him that very same night, and afterwards the nightmares began.

"Another one of those nightmares?" Seiya heard a person behind him talk.

"Yes, they just seem to get more and more frightening. I think something's going to happen to her. I just know it!"

"How can you be sure? Dreams don't always have to be right."

"Yeah, but they seem so real. Why do I get the feeling of that something's really going to happen?" Seiya asked, turning around towards Yaten.

"I don't know. But I do know that you should go back to sleep. Tomorrow we're going to have a lot of work." Yaten said, as he went out and shut the door.

"_Tomorrow…"_ Seiya thought.

_"Tomorrow, I'll see you, Odango."_

* * *

**A/N:**

here's the fifth chapter. Yay! I'm updating fast here… eeep! (ducks from a flying object… then runs and hide behind a chair) Please don't kill me, for making Mamoru look like a jerk. I have my reasons though as to why I did, what I just did. It'll be revealed later. and forgive me for use of language in my story...

By the way, I have some information to tell you. I won't be updating as quick in May as I'm doing right now, cause I'll be studying hard for university exams and I have a couple of concerts that I'll be doing in my_ little_ home town. And no, I won't abandon this again… It's just that I won't be updating much during May. But I'll try to update as soon as I can. Until then, just sit tight and wait… Seiya will soon meet his darling princess… hihihi

Ja ne minna-san

**/Moonlight Bunny**


	6. Suprises are fun, part 2

**Then there were you**

**By**

**Moonlight Bunny**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the SM characters. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns them.

**Summary: **Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

**A/N:** Thanks minna-chan! To Mamoru's fans… Please don't bite off my head! Now on with the story…!

* * *

_**Previously…**_

"_Usagi-chan, out of my way. I'm just going to beat him up."_

"_Mako-chan, please don't! I don't want any fight."_

_-_

_"I made a promise that very same day, that no one was ever going to hurt you._

_Usagi-chan, you are one of my dearest and bestest friends and you mean a lot to me. I'm hurt, when you're hurt. And now that he's been hurting you, I'm going to hurt him too. Not emotionally, but physically. So if you excuse me, I have to go to that so called boyfriend of yours and…" Makoto was interrupted by the inners, which by now gained to them._

"_Maybe, you're right. But that doesn't mean that we have to solve everything with violence. And hurting Mamoru-san won't make Usagi-chan feel better."_

_-_

_Rei slowly opened the door and walked in. Minako followed in quietly after Rei. Inside they could hear murmurs and laughter turn into groans. Rei and Minako went to where they were hearing noices. The noices led them to Mamoru's bedroom. Minako and Rei opened the door quietly and peeked in. _

_Gasping, they saw Mamoru in bed with another woman. Rei quickly closed the door. Shocked over what they saw, they turned into anger. Minako was now cracking her knuckles, while Rei was tightening her fists. They pushed the door open, startling both Mamoru and the woman._

_-_

"_Go back to the states and bring that whore with you. There, you two can fuck in peace or what ever. I don't care, but remember this!" Rei started_

"_Don't you come near Usagi-chan…" Minako continued._

"_Ever again. If you do, then we promise you that we will hunt you down like the cheating scum you are…"_

"_And we will rip you apart, limb from limb…"_

"_Starting with that manhood of yours that we will shove down your throat. Are we understood?" Rei ended as they both turned around and walked out of Mamoru's apartment._

_-_

"_I feel it."_

"_The prince is leaving the princess. A new destiny is shaping."_

"_One is going to lead her to love and happiness."_

"_The other one will lead her to sorrow and loneliness…"_

"_And possibly her death."_

_-_

"_Seiya, help me!" a voice cried out. It was filled with fear and sorrow._

"_Who are you? How can I help you?" Seiya shouted out._

"_Help me!"_

A scream was heard, then silence.

"_NO! Wait!" Seiya panicked as he ran faster to where he heard the scream._

_As he neared the place, he saw a form lying on the ground. He ran to it and saw that it was a woman. The woman was lying in a pool of blood. Seiya went on his knees and turned the woman to his side, so that he could see whom it was. Pulling away some hair from her face, he gasped…_

-

_"Tomorrow, I'll see you, Odango."_

-----

**Chapter six: Surprises are fun, part 2**

"You felt something, didn't you?"

"Huh?"

"Earlier… right before we left the park. I saw the look on your face, that same look you always have when you feel something wrong. Something's going to happen again, am I right? Rei-chan?"

"Hai… I don't know if it's an omen. It didn't seem like a negative feeling, but it's not positive either. I don't know, but it's the same like two years ago. It's the same sensation two years ago, when…"

"When what?"

"When _they_ were here last time." Rei completed.

She looked at her friend who directly understood whom she was referring to. Rei was afraid that the information she just gave away, might hurt her. Hurt her emotionally like the last time.

"Don't worry. I might not have gotten over it, but at least I'm moving on." Ami said, making her friend sure that she was ok.

The two friends stood quietly out on the balcony for the rest of the night, before deciding to go back in and sleep.

-----

**Next morning**

Usagi and the inners went to the airport. Seeing Mamoru waiting, Usagi ran up to him and gave him a kiss. The inners walked after her slowly. They didn't want to talk to him nor see him, but they had to act like nothing had happened... for Usagi. Mamoru noticed the inners glare at him, giving him a _don't-you-dare-hurt-her_ –glare before he turned back to his blonde fiancé.

"Mamo-chan, please come back soon."

"I'll try to Usako, but I can't promise you."

"_Like he's ever going to come back for her."_ Rei muttered quietly to the inners, receiving an elbow from Minako.

"Usako" Mamoru whispered as he hugged her.

Usagi and Mamoru stood for a long time holding in each other's arms, while the inners stood there waiting with annoyance. As the two couples were standing there and hugging each other, Mamoru whispered to her ear,

_"I'm sorry if I ever hurt you. I didn't mean to."_

"Mamo-chan, please just come back to me soon." Usagi looked at him, tears were now running down her cheek.

Mamoru wiped away her tears,

_"I love you."_ After he said those words, he picked up his luggage and went.

Usagi watched him disappear in the distance and for what seemed to be forever, she had stood in the same spot in silence. She was hoping that nothing would happen this time, when he was going back. She always wished for his safety every time he went away. As she turned around she saw the inners stare at her. She was wondering why they never said goodbye to her Mamo-chan as she went to them. She could have sworn that Rei and Minako were doing gagging noices, but shrugged it. It was already enough with yesterday's event where she had misunderstood it all. _Right?_

"You're alright?" Makoto asked.

Usagi nodded, as she stared at the ground. She then lifted her head up, tilted at the side and smiled,

"Minna, I'm a bit hungry."

The inners sweat-dropped as Minako said,

"I'm a bit hungry myself. What do you think of eating at Jupiter's Light? I've heard that they serve the best food there."

"Why, Mina-chan. That's a good idea. Afterwards we can all go to the Crown and order a milkshake or something. Like in the old days?" Makoto smiled.

"That's great. Then we can meet Motoki-kun and Unazuki-chan!" Usagi beamed.

"Say… shouldn't you call your boys and ask them if they want to come?" Usagi asked.

"Are you sure?" The inners looked at her worried,

"Yeah, it's okay. It's not like I'm your mother, making decisions if you should meet your boyfriends or not."

"Okay…" They hesitated for a bit, but went off with it.

"Oh, that's good. Then you can all finally meet _Alex!_" Minako grinned.

"Alex?" Makoto wondered.

"Who's Alex?" Ami asked.

"He's a model. And a sexy one too…" Minako started to daydream, but was interrupted by Rei,

"When did you meet him? Why haven't you told us? And you _always_ tell us how important it is to share secrets with friends, _especially best friends_…"

"Uh… Ehm… Well… You see, I've been having a secret relationship with him." Minako stammered and laughed nervously.

"WHAT!" everyone cried out as Minako put her hand at the back of her head and laughed nervously.

"For how long?" Usagi asked.

"Do you remember when I announced that I was going to start with volleyball again and going to auditions?"

"Yeah…?" everyone followed, nodding their heads.

"Well, when I was at the park there was this strange, weird-looking guy who came up to me and…"

**-**

**/Flashbacks\**

_A blonde girl was sitting on a bench in the park. Her hair looked like a mess, like she hasn't been washing it for days. Her hair used to shine when the sunlight hit it, but now it was dull. And by the look on her face you could tell that her eyes looked lifeless and red and puffy, like she had been crying on for days. She was staring down at the ground when she suddenly murmured to herself,_

"_I'm pathetic…"_

"_No, you're not." A voice suddenly appeared, making the blonde look up. _

_There in front of her stood a young man who seemed to be around 20. She could tell by the looks that he was handsome. His dark blonde hair was a bit curly, but she found his eyes fascinating. They were somewhere between blue and green. The man was smiling kindly as he handed her a handkerchief. Minako accepted it and dried her eyes, but then frowned,_

"_Huh? Who… who are you?"_

"_I said, no, you're not. A pretty girl like you shouldn't think like that." The guy repeated, making Minako frown even deeper._

"_What do you know? How can you even say that, when you don't even know? You haven't even answered my question and…"_

"_Whoa… slow down. Don't need to bite my head off. Chill… by the way, I'm Alex Suzuki." _

"_Alex doesn't sound Japanese."_

"_That's because I'm only half Japanese."_

"_So how come you're name is Alex?"_

"_Well, my mother's name was Alexandra, but she died giving birth to me and my father loved her so much that he named me Alexander to honour her memory. But my friends thought it was too long so they called me Alex and I've been called it ever since then."_

"_I'm sorry about your…" Minako started, shocked over what she just heard. _

"_Don't be. You didn't know. So how come you look so sullen?"_

"_You wouldn't understand anyway…"_

"_Let me guess. A guy you liked, dumped and left you?"_

_"Something like that…" Minako whispered sadly, not noticing Alex frowning._

"_He's an idiot then and you shouldn't feel pathetic. If anyone should feel pathetic, then it's him for leaving a pretty girl like you, in distressed."_

"_And what are you suppose to be? A knight in shining armour?" Minako cocked an eyebrow._

"_Don't you want me to be it?" Alex laughed playfully, which brought a smile on Minako's face._

"_There it is!"_

"_Huh?"_

"_Your smile. You do know that you have a beautiful smile?"_

"_You probably say that to all girls. It's the new ways of picking them, right?" Minako huffed and crossed her arms, ready to go away from what seemed to be a loser trying to pick up a girl who was distressed._

"_Actually, you're the first one I've ever tried to say this to." Alex scratched his head and laughed._

"_Yeah, right. But for all that is worth, thank you."_

"_Nani?"_

"_Thank you for trying to make me smile." Minako bowed as she stood up,_

"_I'm sorry, but I have to go now." She was ready to walk away, when Alex shouted,_

"_Wait!"_

"What?" 

"_I haven't found out your name yet."_

"_Oh… it's Minako. Aino Minako." Minako smiled as she turned around and walked away. Talking with the guy made her much more cheerier. Maybe it was time to move on…_

**/End of Flashbacks\**

**-**

"Then, when I was modelling I met him again…"

-

**/Flashbacks\**

"_Gomen-nasai! I am really, really sorry for coming late!" Minako panted as she bowed over and over again, to a tall, brown haired man._

"_Miss Aino, if you want to be famous then you should take this job more seriously. Being an idol doesn't mean that you can come in late whenever you feel to and…"_

"_Oi, Gyo-kun! Don't be so harsh on her. It's just her first time. I'm sure it won't happen again." A voice said, which made Minako stopped from what she was doing. The voice seemed kind of familiar and turned around and gasped, when she saw,_

"_Suzuki-kun!"_

"_Minako? You're the new teen idol?" Alex burst out. He was surprised over meeting her again and at the same time felt happy. She had changed, since the last time he saw her. Of course she looked different, she was down the last time he talked to her. _

"_Erm… hai!" Minako blushed._

"_I didn't know you were into this kind of stuff." Alex smirked, eyeing her from head to toe. Yes, she had definitely changed. Her hair wasn't dull, it had returned to her silky hair and her eyes weren't puffy anymore. In fact they were shining with happiness instead of sadness. She looked different and more beautiful than ever. _

"_Well, my dream is being an idol."_

"_You seemed to have managed it, ne?"_

"_Hai, Suzuki-kun…"_

"_Please, no formalities. Just call me Alex."_

"_Hai! Only if you call me Minako." Minako smiled, not noticing that they stood close to each other. They stood there and stared in each other's eyes, when a loud voice brought them back to the real word, but also making them blush._

"_Hey, you two lovebirds! Are we going to start or what? You know, we haven't got all day."_

**/End of Flashbacks\**

**-**

"Then we got to know each other even more afterwards and somewhere along the line we fell in love. I don't know about him, but to me he was my knight in shining armour when _you know…_

Anyway, we started to date and we've been going out now for five months."

"FIVE MONTHS?" everyone exclaimed.

"And you never told us?" Ami said.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but Alex didn't want the news to go out that he and I were dating. And I had to respect that, besides we didn't want any of our friends to get into consequences."

"What consequences?" Usagi asked, as frowns started to show on her forehead.

"Of being a celebrity. Alex is labelled as one of the top ten sexiest men in Japan and number one in Europe. And lately, the magazines have also been labelling me as the third most beautiful woman in Japan."

"Yeah, right. Beautiful…" Rei rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I can't help it if _I'm_ beautiful… Well, we never told anyone, because we didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt. And that's why you never knew about it."

"Must be tough being a celebrity if that's the price you have to pay." Rei thought for herself.

"Yes, but now that you all know, I don't have to sneak away early or having an excuse of not coming to the meetings and stuff anymore."

"We're still mad, but… hey, when are you going to call your man?" Makoto asked enthusiastically.

"Yes, we're excited to see who this mysterious man is that captured our little love goddess's heart." Usagi continued, as they all walked to get ready.

------

**The Three Lights**

At the three light's apartment,

"YATEN!" a voice was heard all over the building.

"I am going to kill you!"

Seiya ran out of his room and burst into Yaten's room.

"Here shorty, shorty. You can run, but you can't hide."

"Ahh…! Stupid baka."

"YATEN! When I find you, I'm going to kick you all the way to Kinmoku-sei and back, little man!"

"HEY! Who are you calling little?"

"You, shorty!"

"Baka! Baka! BAKA!"

"Is that all you can say?"

"No, you just wait and see. I'll show you what a shorty can do!"

"Oh yeah! Like what?"

"I'm going to sweep _my odango_ off her feet faster before you can say _Odango_."

"No, you won't come near _MY odango_!"

"No? Just watch me."

"Why you little… And she's not _YOUR odango_!" Seiya yelled as he ran after the shorter light.

Taiki who was sitting in the living room and reading, enjoying the quiet before the commotion, sweat dropped. Shaking his head, he started to wonder if he was put together with them only just to baby sit, from what seemed to be two five year olds. He then winced from a sound thatused to be a vase, crashing to the floor. He sat and waited a couple of more minutes, massaging his temples, when he suddenly stood up. He had had enough and walked to the room where all the commotion were taking and said out loud,

"Would you two, stop this nonsense!"

Seiya stopped in his track and spat,

"NO! Now where did he run off?"

"Honestly, you two can play hide and seek later, but now we have work to do! Come on, we have to go to the library before they close."

"Nah, uh! That's your area." Seiya shook his head and continued.

"Ha! So you admit that you're dumber than a… than a sheep!"

"No, I'm not. And… hey, come back here! I'm not finished with you yet!"

"Guys! We need to make up a plan of how we're going to explain to the fans why we've been gone for too long!"

"Can't you do it?" Seiya groaned.

"No!"

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm looking for a little dwarf. He's this short and he's…"

"I'm not a dwarf! Middle man!"

"It's better than being a little man!"

"Just because you're jealous doesn't mean…"

"Me? Jealous? Jealous of what? Being short? I don't think so."

"You're only jealous because I'm more handsome than you are and capable of getting any girl I want."

"Yeah, maybe in your dreams…"

Yaten and Seiya continued their bickering for ten minutes, while Taiki stood there and watched. He sighed and shook his head as he muttered '_why me?'. _Taiki went back and forth, waiting for them to stop when he heard his stomach growl.

"Hey, guys! Say, what do you all think of eating at Jupiter's Light?" Taiki suggested.

"Sure, why not. I'm a bit hungry." Seiya answered.

"You're always hungry." Yaten teased.

"Why you…"

"Can you two stop it!" Taiki yelled, quieting both Seiya and Yaten.

-----

**Jupiter's Light**

A group of four women and four men were sitting in the restaurant, chatting and laughing. Rei was lecturing poor Yuuichirou as usual and Ami was discussing a theory with Ryu. Makoto was running back and forth to her friends and to the kitchen. Usagi and Shinozaki were talking about Makoto and her cooking, while Minako was snuggling with her boyfriend. Then Minako started to tell all of them about one time when Alex got sick and she was going to take care of him, but ended up messing his apartment, scaring him to death when she thought that she had chopped off her finger and when she almost food poisoned him.

The girls laughed, remembering earlier when Minako tried to do the same thing for them.

"Mina-chan, we already told you that you're a danger when it comes to take care of sick people." Usagi teased.

"Yeah, remember that time, when…" Rei started.

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_It's Christmas, but the flu is sweeping the city. In the streets everyone is wearing facemasks, except for Esmeraude, who is watching a TV in a store window which comments on the situation. She's responsible for this outbreak, and plans on taking advantage of the situation. Minako walks past, with Artemis in his cat carrier. She's want to help her friends at all cost in their hour of need. (Whether they want it or not.) The phone rings at the temple. It's Mako calling Rei, and they both look awful. Mako says both Usagi and Ami are down with the flu, and Rei admits that even she is, so it looks like the Sailor Senshi are out of action. However, Mako starts to say that one of them is still well when suddenly Rei's door flies open to reveal a VERY cheerful Minako (waving the car carrier over Artemis' protests). Mako overhears the commotion and hangs up, sighing. It's apparent from the wreckage in her place that Minako's already been there. _

_At Rei's Minako's made some food and offers it to her. Artemis tries to warn her, but Minako stops him, adding that as she is the only one who's well she'll take care of everyone. Rei's dubious about the food, but Minako looks at her with such innocence that she has to try it. She swallows, spits flame, and passes out. Artemis tries the food and confirms that it's loaded with salt! Minako then manages to spill the dish on Rei, and then dumps her out of bed trying to change the sheets. _

_After getting Rei settled again, she produces a cassette and proceeds to fiddle with the tape player, saying how she's read that certain music helps with healing. Rei looks pensive, and when the player finally starts working it blares at top volume. When Minako tries to apologetically turn it down, it explodes. Rei follows suit and throws her out._

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

"And don't forget, when she came over to my house later for…" Usagi continued.

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_Usagi's in bed and on the phone with Rei, who is filling her in on Minako's rampage. Usagi's saying that she doesn't need Minako's help because there is someone well in the house when suddenly she hears Chibi-Usa crying out on the balcony, and quickly hangs up. Chibi-Usa's dangling from the railing, apparently from trying to put a sheet out to dry. Mom pulls her up. She's insisting on doing all the work, and Usagi tells here to stick to what she knows. Mom has a headache, and can't deal with this. She leaves, telling Chibi-Usa she should go play with her friends. _

_A voice calls out, and a cloaked figure appears on the street. It's Minako, who leaps up to the balcony in one bound, and makes a speech about being the angel of mercy here to help. Artemis hangs his head. Usagi tries to talk her into just playing with Chibi-Usa but Minako wants to help everyone. Chibi-Usa looks happy, and as they go inside Minako tells Usagi that she should rest, and tomorrow she'll catch her second cold. Artemis says she meant wind. _

_Usagi lies in bed, Artemis checks on Luna, who tells him he's lucky he's so silly, (This is a play on a saying that silly people never get colds) and the door swings open to reveal Minako and Chibi-Usa in nurse's uniforms. Chibi-Usa turns Luna-P into a medicine kit, and Minako sticks a digital thermometer into Usagi's mouth. However, it doesn't seem to work properly, and when Minako shakes it, it goes flying and breaks the window. Cold air starts rushing in. Luna says she thought Usagi was the worst, but she can't compare to Minako. _

_With the window taped over, Minako suggests some food, which Usagi and Artemis frantically shoot down. Minako then goes for the CD player, and Usagi manages to distract her by suggesting she take a look at her parents. Minako and Chibi-Usa happily go off, falling down the stairs, and the patch comes off the window. _

_Minako, Chibi-Usa, and Luna-P (wearing an apron) then prepare to clean house, and it's a complete disaster. Usagi and Mom look on at the devastation, and Mom goes back to bed, saying she'll clean house later. Usagi feels bad for Mom, and then gets groggy and passes out. _

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

"But if it wasn't for you, then we would still have stayed in bed for the rest of that week."

"Yes, you were a great nurse. BUT next time we get sick, promise not to take care of us, okay."

Then Rei, Ami and Usagi started to laugh at Minako, who was looking at them weird.

"Hey, guys? What's with you all?"

"Oh, nothing. Only just… only just that we remembered suddenly that time when you also chopped of you finger."

"Oh, that. Ehm… haha…"

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_At Ami's apartment, Usagi and the others are in the kitchen. Usagi wants some lessons on cooking. Ami is reading a recipe out of a book. Usagi comes up and says "OK.. ok.. enough lectures for now!" _

_  
Rei says "Why don't you just heat up some instant curry?" No one thinks this is a good idea.  
Mako says "OK.. the first step is to peel the onions and slice the carrots." (they have a basket full of onions and carrots). Since she is the best cook, she starts demonstrating the correct method for chopping carrots. _

_Minako says "I want to do it!" Minako's style of cutting vegetables looks very dangerous (she's got her fingers extended rather than folded over - something the Frugal Gourmet tells you not to do). Suddenly she stops and holds her hand. "My finger!" she says. Usagi yells that Minako's finger is lying on the cutting board and becomes quite excited. The other girls crowd around. Mako looks on the cutting board - it turns out to be a piece of carrot. _

_When its Usagi's turn comes, she approaches the cutting board as though it were a log that needed to be sliced in half. She starts cutting. It sounds pretty convincing (especially to Luna who can't see the tabletop) but Mako says, "Are you really going to do it?" Then we see that Usagi isn't cutting anything, just going through the motions. _

/**End of Flashbacks\ **

-

"You really freaked us out. And Makoto was ready to sew back that finger of yours."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't. I was as much freaked out as you, guys." Makoto said.

Behind Makoto came a few waiters holding different kinds of dishes. The waiters served them the food, bowed and left. As the group started to eat, they heard yells from their back. The five women looked at each other, wondering why the voices sounded familiar. They turned around and looked at the direction where they heard the voices. Seeing three men bickering at each other, they gasped. Staring at them, not believing what they're seeing, they all stood up. They didn't notice their boyfriends exchanging worried glances. Then Mina said,

"Is it just me seeing this or have they come back?"

"But weren't they suppose to be with their princess?" Makoto asked.

"Maybe they… maybe it's another enemy that has come?" Ami thought.

"WHAT! Please not again. Don't tell me they lost their princess _again_?" Rei cried.

"No, I don't think so. There hasn't been any enemy for a long time." Mina answered.

"But it can't be them!" Rei said.

Only Usagi was standing quietly, not hearing the other women talk. She herself was lost in thoughts. Many times she had wished for them to come back, especially Seiya. And now, that they were back, she didn't know what to say. She was just standing, thinking about the day she met them. When she had good times with them and bad times. When she fought with them and when they left. Memories flashed, pictures showed, words that she had forgotten came running through her head. This was surreal, she thought. And yet there they were, standing a couple of metres away, arguing over what they should eat. Even her friends were hearing and seeing them. Then one word slipped out from her lips,

_"Seiya!"_

-----

_**Earlier **_

"Baka!" Yaten shouted angrily at Seiya, hitting him with the menu.

"We're in a fancy restaurant and all you can say is _Do they have any hamburgers? _God, you're really unrefined." He continued, lecturing Seiya.

"And what about you? _If they don't have any caviar, then I'm out of here._" Seiya retorted.

"Well, at least it's not a ticket to _Hello, can I take your order and help you get fat?" _

"Oh yeah! Well, at least I'm not a fish egg-sucker."

"Better that, than a living and walking junk food-pig!" Yaten spat.

"At least it got me taller. What about you? You know, if you eat those, then maybe you would grow some inches and stop looking like a dwarf."

"Hey, who are you calling dwarf!"

"You!"

"Oh yeah, then you are a… a… A SHEEP!"

"Why you little…"

"Would you two stop it? God, you're two grown up-men, and still you act more immature than kids." Taiki interrupted.

He was already irritated over the two men's behaviour on their way to the restaurant and even more when they were in the restaurant. He never used to wish for anything except for those times when they were searching for Kakyuu, but now he wished for not being in the place as them when he saw the looks from the other people.

"Stay out of this!" Seiya and Yaten yelled.

"If you haven't noticed, people are staring at us."

"Sure, they stare at us. It's not everyday they see someone as handsome as I am."

"Yeah, right. Maybe in Minako's eyes." Seiya smirked.

"_And what is that supposed to mean?"_ asked a calm, but irritated voice, behind them.

Turning around, they saw a woman with long golden hair. Her hair was twisted in a French braid and was wearing a long yellow silk dress. Around her neck hung a golden chain with a pendant, which was the sign of Venus. The woman had her arms crossed. She was frowning and if looks could kill, they would have been dead by now.

Behind her came three other women. The tall brunette had her hair down and was wearing a pair of black denims and a green silk blouse with a V-neck line. She too was wearing a golden chain with a pendant that symbolised the Jupiter's sign. Next to the brunette stood a raven-haired woman. Her hair was long and had locks. She was wearing a knee-length red skirt and a black-laced top with a turtleneck line and around her neck also hung a golden chain, but with the insignia of Mars'.

A blue-haired woman stood beside her. She had her long blue hair pulled up in a French twist. She was wearing a short baby blue satin dress and also around her neck hangs a pendant with the Mercury-sign. Then another woman came. She too had long golden hair, but her hair was down and had locks. She was wearing a light pink chiffon dress and but around her neck hung a different necklace. It was gold too, but the pendant was a moon-crest with diamonds and on each side of the moon were two stars shaped sapphire.

Seiya, Yaten and Taiki were staring in awe at the five beautiful women. They knew who the women were. They would have recognised them even after fifty years, when they would have been old ladies. But right now they couldn't believe what they're seeing. Standing in front of them, were the clumsy little crybaby who loved to eat it, and beside her stood the fiery priestess, who loved to tease, and the blue-haired genius, who would sit all night and day studying. And the bubbly-headed idol-chaser, who dreamt to be an idol and the tall, overprotecting brunette, who would pounced you to death if you as much as lay a finger on one of her friends' heads.

They were all standing there, five young girls who had grown up to be five beautiful women. They were still the same, but yet different. A lot different then the last time. Had they really been gone for a long time?

Yaten was the first one, who spoke,

"Minako, _is that you?"_

The blonde then stopped frowning and smiled,

"Hello Yaten. Welcome back."

Taiki was the next one, who said,

"Konnichiwa, minna-san. It's been a long time, ne?"

Ami took a step forward and smiled, while answering,

"Hai. How are you?"

"Good. And I see that you're all fine too."

"Hai, Taiki-san." Makoto said.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Rei asked, trying not to sound rude.

"What? Can't some old friends come and visit? And to think that we thought you would miss us." Yaten joked, playing hurt.

"No, but…"

"It's okay, we understand you. Kakyuu-sama gave us time off from our jobs."

"What? Time off from protecting your princess?"

"No. Time off from re-building. Well, actually we've finished the whole re-building and we were too exhausted, that the princess started to get worried. She told us to take a vacation and ordered to go visit the earth senshis."

"Okay, we hope then that you'll stay here for a long time."

The only persons, who didn't seem to talk, were Usagi and Seiya. They were only staring at each other as memories came back to them. A certain awkward feeling rouse up as they stood there. They didn't know what to say. It shouldn't be that hard, but it was.

Seiya could feel his heart beat rise as he looked at the young woman before him. He had come back to earth for answers and he knew that one of the questions had been answered. Problem was now, would those others get a positive or negative responds?

Usagi, on the other hand, wanted to run up to her best friend and give him a big hug. She wanted to cry, she wanted to laugh. She wanted to tell him how much she had missed him, but for some reasons she couldn't. Something was holding her back. Usagi suddenly felt something inside her. It was a warm feeling that was similar to when she was around Mamoru, yet different. What was this feeling inside her?

"_Seiya"_ Usagi thought.

_"Odango"_

* * *

**A/N:**

Yay! They've finally met!

I wasn't very fond of the old chapters, so here it is. I put two of them together and added some more. This is not my favourite chapter, but I like it. I'm already finished with my favourite chapter so I'll be posting it soon. Like I said earlier, I won't be posting much this month because I have university exams, job and concerts, but I'll try to post whenever I can.

Also right now, I'm working with a new story. And for those who love the shittenou/senshi pairing, here is a preview for the story with my favourite couples, Rei/Jadeite!

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-

-

-

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**Memories of the Casablanca Lily**

_A girl was sitting out on the porch, staring at the sky. Her long raven hair cascaded in the wind as a cool breeze swept in the hot summer night. She was lost in her thoughts. Thoughts of yesterday's event._

"_Who was that man? What big role did he play in the past?"_

_-_

_A young man was walking down the street. Never caring for where he went, he also was in deep thoughts. _

"_Mars…"_

_-_

_-_

_-_

Hope you'll like it! Anyway, new chapters of **Then there were you** will come soon. So just you all wait in your chairs patiently. hihi

Ja!

**/Moonlight Bunny**


	7. Thoughts of You

**Then there were you**

**By**

**Moonlight Bunny**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the SM characters. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns them.

**Summary: **Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

**A/N: **Here is the 7th chapter. There's a lot of changes here and more. And here is also where my other story comes in. For you who haven't read, **Thoughts of you**, I recommend it.

* * *

**Previously**

"_You felt something, didn't you?"_

"_Hai… I don't know if it's an omen. It didn't seem like a negative feeling, but it's not positive either. I don't know, but it's the same like two years ago. It's the same sensation two years ago, when…"_

"_When they were here last time."_

"…_at least I'm moving on."_

_-_

"_Mamo-chan, please just come back to me soon." Usagi looked at him, tears were now running down her cheek._

_Mamoru wiped away her tears,_

"_I love you." _

_-_

"_Then you can all finally meet Alex!"_

"_Who's Alex?"_

_-_

"_Let me guess. A guy you liked, dumped and left you?"_

"_Something like that…And what are you suppose to be? A knight in shining armour?"_

"_Don't you want me to be it?" Alex laughed playfully, which brought a smile on Minako's face._

"_You do know that you have a beautiful smile?"_

"_Thank you for trying to make me smile." Minako bowed as she stood up,_

"_I'm sorry, but I have to go now." She was ready to walk away, when Alex shouted,_

"_Wait!"_

"_What?" _

"_I haven't found out your name yet."_

"_Oh… it's Minako. Aino Minako." _

_-_

_Minako smiled, not noticing that they stood close to each other. They stood there and stared in each other's eyes, when a loud voice brought them back to the real word, but also making them blush._

"_Hey, you two lovebirds! Are we going to start or what? You know, we haven't got all day."_

_-_

_This was surreal, she thought. And yet there they were, standing a couple of metres away, arguing over what they should eat. Even her friends were hearing and seeing them. Then one word slipped out from her lips,_

"_Seiya!"_

_-_

"_Anyway, what are you doing here?"_

"_What? Can't some old friends come and visit? And to think that we thought you would miss us."_

"_Okay, we hope then that you'll stay here for a long time."_

_A certain awkward feeling rouse up as they stood there. They didn't know what to say. It shouldn't be that hard, but it was._ _Seiya could feel his heart beat rise as he looked at the young woman before him. Usagi suddenly felt something inside her. It was a warm feeling that was similar to when she was around Mamoru, yet different. What was this feeling inside her?_

"_Seiya" Usagi thought._

_"Odango"_

* * *

**Chapter seven: Thoughts of you**

As the group were happily chatting, Usagi and Seiya were the only ones who weren't joining them. They were staring at each for a long time,

"Hello Odango."

"Hello Seiya. Ogenki desu-ka?"

"Genki-desu. Anata wa?"

"Watashi-mo genki-desu."

"Nice to see you."

"You too."

Then a long silence occurred. For a long time they just stood there, staring at each other. The group soon noticed Usagi's and Seiya's quietness. They were just standing there, staring at each other, not saying anything.

Then Minako started to feel something. It felt like electricity just hit her, as it came surging through her whole body fast. She felt warm inside and her heart started to beat so fast that she had to put her hand on her chest, as if she was afraid of that her heart would jump out of her body all of a sudden. Could it be that, as the goddess of love, she felt Usagi's heart beating? She knew that she had a link to her fellow senshis and most of all her princess. Was she really feeling Usagi's feelings or was she just imagining it? As a new one came rushing through her body, making her heart beat fast again; she knew that she really was feeling Usagi's heart. Minako let out a small laugh, then smiled and watched her princess.

Rei was staring at her princess and Seiya. Why were they staring at each other? Most of all, why was SHE staring? Didn't she already have Mamoru? But then again, all that baka could do was make her cry and break her heart over and over again. She knew that Seiya would treat her well, treasure her, and love her over everything. God, he would even die for her, but yet why was it bothering her? Why was she even bothered by them staring at each other? Was it that as a senshi, she needed to protect her from all outsiders? Or was it as a friend, she needed to protect Usagi from getting hurt from anything and everything, especially from men who seemed to have the habit of breaking her?

But come on! This was Seiya. The guy, she trusted of leaving Usagi to his protection whenever she couldn't protect her. The guy who hated to see her cry. The guy who loved her even more than life itself. He was the one who… Then suddenly Rei realized, he was the one Usagi loved, didn't she? The one whom she never chose over Mamoru-san, because… because of Chibi-Usa? Was it because of Chibi-Usa that Usagi stayed true to Mamoru-san? Questions ran through Rei's mind. She has to find out. Maybe tonight she'll ask, Rei thought as she watched Usagi,

"_Oh, Usagi-chan. Why didn't you tell me? Why haven't I noticed this before?"_

Ami was smiling, but even though she wanted her princess' happiness she couldn't help thinking of what the future might be. The thought was frightening. With Mamoru, their future were already settled for the better, but with Seiya… With Seiya, they didn't know. Was it better to not know the whole future, than to know and have seen of what it'll become? Either which way Usagi chooses, she would still be happy. The only thing she cared for was her happiness and nothing else. But how will the others take this? Would they be happy? She knew that they would do everything for Usagi, but would they accept the change of the future? Would they accept Seiya? Will there still be a Crystal Tokyo if Usagi chooses him? Ami was worried. For once in her life she didn't have the answers to these questions. Now all she could do was pray. Pray that they wouldn't get upset over Usagi's decisions.

Makoto was watching them staring at each other. As she watched, a thought came up to her mind. This was the perfect guy for her princess. Sure, he wasn't a royalty, but hey, what's love got to do with it? She knew Seiya loved Usagi beyond everything. Maybe Usagi did have feelings for him too. She didn't know. Even though Usagi was quite predictable, she was a mystery. You would never know if Usagi's suppressing her feelings. Like come on? Usagi would quickly put up a happy face if something were bothering her. But she knew. She knew through all those veils Usagi was holding. She knew that Usagi, somehow down the road, had fallen in love with Seiya. And Usagi was careful with holding it back, hiding it so no one would see. Usagi wasn't that stupid, she knew all along about Seiya's feelings. Then Makoto suddenly remembered something,

-

**/Flashback\**

_The inners were at the temple, waiting for Usagi to come. Rei was muttering and cursing Usagi, as usual. Minako was reading a manga, while laughing hard as Ami quickly glanced at Minako, shooking her head and turned back to reading. Makoto had brought goodies, especially Usagi's favourites to cheer her up with. _

"_Poor Usagi-chan. She's not the same since the Starlights left." Makoto thought._

_As she was going to say something, a door opened. Usagi went in and smiled faintly to the girls. Rei stood up and was going to yell at Usagi, thought everyone, when she instead said,_

"_You're late Usagi-chan. Did something happen?"_

"_Iie. Gomen ne, minna. My teacher wanted to talk to me."_

"_Nande? What did you talk about?"_

"_Sensei was wondering why I was down lately."_

"_So why are you down?"_

"_Oh, nothing. I'm just stressed out, but it'll go over soon." Usagi answered, pressing a smile._

_Rei frowned, but then said,_

"_Okay. If you need something, anything, just let us know."_

_Usagi nodded as she sat down and joined the rest of the group._

_-_

_**Two hours later**_

_-_

_Minako and Rei were arguing over a magazine. Ami looked at them and sweat dropped. Then she shook head and turned back to her reading. Makoto face faulted and sweat dropped. Things had gone back to where it was, she thought, but then remembered Usagi who had changed a lot. Searching through the room, she couldn't find Usagi. _

_Makoto frowned and went out to look after her. But it didn't take long before she found Usagi. Usagi was sitting out on the porch, watching the dark sky with its stars. Makoto was going to talk to Usagi, when she noticed something shimmering run down Usagi's cheek. Was Usagi crying? Did Mamoru hurt her? Did anyone hurt her? Being the overprotected friend she was, Makoto neared Usagi to find out. _

_But then she suddenly stops. Usagi was mumbling something, but she couldn't hear what. Then Usagi looked up to the sky, tears were shining brightly as it ran down her cheeks. _

"_I never knew, that it could hurt so much." _

_Makoto was going to say something, but decided not to. She decided to leave Usagi alone and as she turned around, she heard one word that she never thought Usagi would say._

"_Seiya."_

"_What? Why is she saying Seiya's name?" Makoto thought._

_"I never got to tell you, that I knew all along."_

"_Knew? Knew what?" she thought._

"_But if I told you, would you stay? Would you have stayed here? Here with me?" Usagi sighed, but then continued talking to herself, not noticing she wasn't alone._

"_I knew all along…I knew about your feelings. And it hurt me so much to see you so heart broken, whenever I said his name or whenever you tried to win me, but I played stupid and acted like I never understood you. But I did understand you." Usagi paused and continued,_

"_You were the one who stood by me, whenever I was down or alone… god, you even volunteered to be my bodyguard. You always made me smile and laugh. I remembered when you said, **I'll never forget you**. It was like you were trying to tell me to run away with you. Follow you to your world. Forget about my burden. You were stretching your hand out, waiting for me to grab your hand and rescue me from my chains. But I couldn't. How could I? I just couldn't leave my friends and family, or run away from my destiny. Even if I tried to escape it, it would just come back and torment me. The memories of those innocent souls and mostly Chibi-Usa would forever haunt in my mind. And your princess… I can never steal you from her, nor compete with her."_

"_I wish I had uttered these words to you, but now when I realize that I should have done it long time ago, it's now too late. I hope you're all right and that someday you can be able to love somebody. I'm sorry."_

"_What? How? When? What words?" Makoto thought._

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

"Oh my god, she really did love Seiya." Makoto mumbled to herself.

Ami, Rei and Minako heard what Makoto had said and quickly turned their heads to her, then to each other.

"Our… our princess…" Minako started.

"Usa-chan, loves…" Rei continued.

"Seiya-san." Ami ended.

"Hai, she loved him all this time." Makoto nodded as she watched the two of them stare at each other.

"No… no wonder Usagi ever mentioned Mamoru-san a lot…" Rei said, as Ami continued,

"During those years, when…"

"He came back." Minako ended.

The four women sighed, thinking of what was going to happen. Will the outers like this or will they kick them all the way back to Kinmokusei. And what about the future? Will it change? If so, then how big will the damage be? And Chibi-Usa? Will she ever exist? For the first time in their lives, they were afraid. Afraid of what's going to happen. Now all they could do was wait and see. But as for now, they just smiled as they watched Usagi and Seiya together.

Unbeknownst to them; the two other young men, who accompanied Seiya, had overheard their discussion. They were both smiling from that little piece of information they got. But then again, wasn't Usagi in love with Mamoru? Why were her friends saying such things? Maybe there was hope after all, for their friend. Maybe going back wasn't such a bad idea. Who knows, maybe the two of them would find each other. _Only time would tell…_

_But little did they really know what fate had in stored for them all…_

* * *

**Next day**

Minako woke up, as usual, in her boyfriend Alex's arms. Alex was still sleeping. Minako looked at him for a couple of seconds and smiled. He looked like an innocent little child, as he lay there beside her, sleeping peacefully. One of the many aspects to why she loved him.

Minako had moved out of her parents' house after she had become an idol. It was time to move on and she had needed her space. Even though her parents' disapproval, they still let her move. They knew that their daughter was stubborn, especially when it came to her dreams and decisions. Minako was on the verge of being a grown woman and knowing that they couldn't keep holding her hand, like they used to, they let go.

As for Minako, moving out was the first step to her fresh start. She wanted to get away from the room where it had reminded her of them. And she did, with the help from Alex. Alex was very important to her. She couldn't love him as she loved Yaten and Alex knew that he could never take that away from her, but they both know that he too held a special place in her heart. Alex was very important to her just like her friends. After all, he helped her get back on track and was even there for her on her deepest, darkest hours.

Minako smiled as she thought of it. Yes, Alex was very dear to her and she loved him. She looked at her sleeping boyfriend and thought,

_"What is he dreaming of?"_

Probably dreaming about her, she thought and grinned. Minako, on the other hand, didn't have a good night sleep. Instead she dreamt about two roads, one was leading to a light and the other one into darkness. Minako shrugged, thinking about the dream. Something in that dream made her uncomfortable. It scared her. What was it about? Is something going to happen? To her? The others? _Usagi?_ All those questions were disturbing her as she walked to the kitchen to make some tea.

Walking through the living room, she sees a couple of pictures. One with her posing, one with all her friends on their graduations, one with only her and Alex, and one with her and her best friends. Picking up the picture with her friends and smiled at it as she remembered the time when the picture was taken.

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_Usagi is in a park, looking up at the sky; she hears her name called and turns around to see the other four Senshi. She runs to them; everybody seems to be in high spirits. They are wearing new school uniforms, as they were going to Juuban High School. _

_**Usagi**: I'm happy that I can be with everyone. _

_Minako was happy to be going to the same school as Usagi, Mako, and Ami. Usagi and Minako were both happy that they will have someone who will get low scores with them. Mako was happy that the tests were over. When Rei comments about that, Ami, Usagi, and Minako point out that Rei's school is an elevator system, so she didn't have to take the entrance tests like the others._

_Rei is still going to TA Private Girls' School, so her sailor suit is the same grey one as before. _

_Mamoru and Chibi-Usa show up, and everyone says Hi; then Chibi-Usa announces that it's time for her to go home to Crystal Tokyo…_

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

Minako sighed and put down the picture.

"We all looked happy at that picture. Usagi and Mamoru-san were happy. The girls were happy, I was happy. Now everything's different. Mamoru-san's cheating on Usagi, Usagi's more distant and sadder than ever. The outers are still the same, but we don't have any connections with them and we have boyfriends." Minako said to herself.

"_Now the Starlights have come back and Yaten… I'm afraid. I don't want to go back to how things were. But…Meeting Yaten-kun last night woke up unwanted feelings. The same feelings that I felt the last time he was here. Oh kami-sama! Am I still in love with him?"_

"It can't be!"

"It can't be what?" said a voice behind Minako, as she felt two strong arms around her waist.

Minako turned around, meeting her boyfriend's gaze. She looks at him and into his blue eyes. She smiles and stands on her tiptoes, giving him a kiss. She ends their kiss and says,

"Good morning to you too. And to answer your question, I was thinking about Usagi-chan."

"Usagi-chan? Oh, you mean the other blonde that I almost took for my beautiful girlfriend?" Alex said and smirked.

Minako blushed,

"Always that smooth talker, ne?"

"You have to admit that you chose me, because you like being flattered?"

Minako raised an eyebrow,

"What makes you think that now, sweetie?"

"Well, it worked first time I met you and it still works now." Alex teased as Minako stuck her tongue out and then laughed,

"Okay, but anyway I was thinking of Usagi-chan."

"She don't seem so happy like you told me. She looked sadder, depressed if I have to say so."

Minako nods,

"Her boyfriend went back to the States."

"Oh…"

"But that's not all. She doesn't know that he's cheating on her."

"What? A beautiful woman like her? He must be pretty stupid if he does such a thing or he just doesn't know how to treasure someone beautiful. But how did you know?"

Minako sighs and tells him the story,

"Well you see…"

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_After the three went, Rei and Minako looked at each other before they nodded their heads and continued to walk to Mamoru's apartment._

_Standing in front of his door, Rei slowly opened the door and walked in. Minako followed in quietly after Rei. Inside they could hear murmurs and laughter turn into groans. Rei and Minako went to where they were hearing noices. The noices led them to Mamoru's bedroom. Minako and Rei opened the door quietly and peeked in._

_Gasping, they saw Mamoru in bed with another woman. Rei quickly closed the door. Shocked over what they saw, they turned into anger. Minako was now cracking her knuckles, while Rei was tightening her fists. They pushed the door open, startling both Mamoru and the woman. Realizing that they were caught, Mamoru stuttered out,_

"_R-Rei-chan? Minako-chan?"_

"_That's Hino for you!" Rei said, walking to Mamoru._

"_And Aino!" Minako followed._

"_Hey! Who do you think you are? Storming in here?" the woman said angrily._

"_Who do we think we are? Who do you think you are? Stealing someone else's fiancée!" Minako growled to the woman._

_----_

"_How dare you? You… you cheating bastard!"_

_Mamoru looked at Rei, who by now had tears in her eyes._

"_Rei, I…"_

"_Usa-chan never deserved this. I honestly thought that you would treat her well. But I guess I was wrong."_

"_I can explain…"_

"_There's nothing to explain here. We've seen it all and this whore is a walking evidence!" Minako interrupted Mamoru, still pinning the woman to the wall._

_Rei went to Minako and looked at the woman with spite in her eyes. The woman looked at the two young women, fear was starting to show in her green eyes. Observing her, Rei_ _noticed that she had met her before and let out a gasp of shock._

_----_

"_So Ayame, did you two have fun?"_

"_Ayame? You've met her before, didn't you Rei-chan?" Minako said._

_Rei paused for a bit before nodding and answering Minako._

"_Yes Mina-chan. I've met her before. Mamoru introduced her to me. She's his teacher or at least, that's what he said."_

_----_

"_Yes… yes, it's true."_

"_You son of a bitch. You've done this for a long time now, haven't you? And we always told Usagi to stay with you, that it was important for everyone even though we knew that your relationship were already falling apart." Minako nearly screamed._

_She felt sad for her friend, who was completely clueless. How will they tell her? What would happen to the future? Most importantly, what would happen to Usagi when she finds out? Minako didn't know what to do. She looked from the woman to Mamoru. It was hard for her to understand, if there ever was an explanation to it all._

_She wanted to cry, cause she could feel inside that the love link between her friend and him was slowly fading away. The powerful link that had always shined was starting to tear apart._ _And it was sad to know that love was once again taken away from two lovers. It was sad… she could feel her heart cry, but put it aside, when she looked at the man in front of her. Now wasn't the time. The pain was soon replaced by anger. And that anger was directed towards him and the blonde woman, but mostly to him._

_----_

"_Go back to the states and bring that whore with you. There, you two can fuck in peace or what ever. I don't care, but remember this!" Rei started_

"_Don't you come near Usagi-chan…" Minako continued._

"_Ever again. If you do, then we promise you that we will hunt you down like the cheating scum you are…"_

"_And we will rip you apart, limb from limb…"_

"_Starting with that manhood of yours that we will shove down your throat. Are we understood?" Rei ended as they both turned around and walked out of Mamoru's apartment, leaving a shocked Mamoru and a frightened Ayame_.

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

"…and that's the whole story." Minako ended.

Alex sat quietly on his chair and thought. He then looks up to Minako and frowns.

"Are you going to tell your friend?"

Minako sighed as she turns and walks back to where the pictures were standing,

"That's the problem. As much as we all love her, we just don't know how to break it to her. Rei think that we should've told her, while Ami and I wanted to wait for the right opportunity to do it. Makoto wants to tell her too, but it's more like she wants to break Mamoru instead. I just don't know… I feel like a bad leader, and mostly a bad friend. I really don't know how to handle this."

"I see… but you should've told her! I agree with you all about the decisions you made, but wouldn't it break her heart if she finds out that everyone knew about it before she even had the chance to know about it first?"

"I know… I know, but it will kill her and besides we already made up our mind. If Usagi-chan's going to find out the truth, then it should be from her boyfriend and not from us. He's the one who owes her the truth."

Alex nods understandingly,

"Do you think Usagi-san has feelings for one of those men?"

"Who?" Minako asked.

"Three Lights. What's his name now, Seiya-san, right?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, by the look on her face, you may say that she's in love. You must have felt something? After all you're the goddess of love."

"Yeah, I felt it." Minako nodded, remembering yesterday's event.

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_Minako started to feel something. It just came running through her whole body fast. She felt warm inside of her, and her heart started to beat fast. A new one came rushing through her body, making her heart beat faster again; she knew that she really was feeling Usagi's heart beat. Minako smiled and watched her princess._

_----_

"_Oh my god, she really did love Seiya." Makoto mumbled to herself. _

_Ami, Rei and Minako heard what Makoto had said and quickly turned their heads to her, then to each other. _

"_Our… our princess…" Minako started._

"_Usa-chan, loves…" Rei continued._

"_Seiya-san." Ami ended._

"_Hai, she loved him all this time." Makoto nodded as she watched the two of them stare at each other._

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

"Maybe he'll be the one for her, don't you think?"

"Yeah, maybe." Minako answered dully.

Silence came, but soon a loud growl was heard. Alex looks at Minako who was blushing different shades of red. He pulls Minako to him and holds her tight, not wanting to let go. They kiss for a long time, before Minako's stomach interrupts their romantic moment once again.

"Hungry babe?"

"Yeah, blueberry pancakes?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Shouldn't you be afraid of that I might food poison you?"

"Why? It's not everyday a beautiful, wonderful and sexy girlfriend makes you food." Alex grinned.

"There goes that tongue of yours again." Minako laughed as she walked into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

-----

**At Ami's place**

"_Taiki's back!"_ Ami smiled as she thought of it.

"_No! I shouldn't be thinking about him, when I have a boyfriend. A wonderful, sweet boyfriend, but… but Taiki." _

"Oh, stop it Ami no baka! You shouldn't be thinking like this." Ami said loud.

She then sighs and thinks. Why did he have to come back? Why did she still have those feelings? Weren't she happy with Ryo? Ami shrugs and jumps back into bed. Turning to her nightstand, she pulls out a drawer. Inside lays pictures of her, the girls and the Three Lights. She picks up the pictures and looks through them. Smiling she takes out a couple of pictures with her and Taiki. She looks at it for a couple of seconds before remembering the occasion.

_"Even though he seemed so cold, he always was the nicest person."_

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_It was the date for Misa's surgery. There was a knock on the door and it was Ami that came in saying, "Hello" to Misa. Ami saw that Misa loved the Starlights as Misa was watching them on TV. _

_Ami was at the cafe with Usagi, Mako, Minako, and Rei telling her about Misa's illness, saying that no doctors in Japan could cure her. So a doctor from America would be coming to Japan to perform surgery on her. Misa was a patient at the hospital where Ami's mother works. Ami also said that Misa is a bit scared to have surgery. Ami doesn't even know what she could get Misa as a get-well gift. Usagi knew that Misa was a fan of the Starlights, so she had an idea. _

_Meanwhile, back at school, the Starlights were surrounded by hundreds of girls that wanted an autograph or wanted to kiss them but they Starlights just wanted some time alone for a while, so they managed to dodge the crowd and head for their lockers. _

_Taiki was upset about who the female fans saying that they were only interested in their looks, and love to shout at their concerts and only listen to half their music. So Taiki walks down a hall and up a set of stairs. Seiya and Yaten follow. Usagi appears at the top of the stairs and wanted to ask Taiki a favour for Ami. Taiki listened, since he and Ami are the best students in the class. Taiki was with Ami and Usagi in the hospital over to Misa's room. Ami and Taiki wanted to surprise her as they asked Misa to close her eyes for just a second and Taiki enters then Misa was allowed to have her eyes open again. _

_**Taiki**: Hello, Misa! Thank you for always watching us! _

_**Misa**: Thank you... for coming to see me... _

_**Misa**: I shook hands with Taiki! _

_**Ami**: Good for you, Misa! It was Usagi who invited him here! _

_**Usagi**: Well, actually, I was trying to get a set of three, but the other two got away... Since this is such a great opportunity, would you give Misa an autograph? _

_**Taiki**: Actually, I don't feel comfortable about that... _

_**Usagi**: Or should I take a picture of the two of you? _

_**Taiki**: Miss Tsukino, would you stop that, please? _

_**Usagi**: Let's see... That's it! Would you like to sing a song for her, Taiki? _

_**Taiki**: Please stop it! Sorry, but I came here as Kou Taiki, an individual. I would like to excuse myself. _

_**Misa**: I'm happy already, just to see Taiki. _

_**Ami**: Oh, I have an idea! This is a great chance to show your drawing to Taiki, Misa. _

_**Misa**: N... No! _

_**Usagi**: Oh? What? What kind of drawing? _

_**Ami**: To be honest, she hasn't shown it to me at all! _

_**Misa**: No, not yet! I'm not finished yet! _

_**Taiki**: Then, will you show me after you've recovered from your operation? I have to confess that I am a bit fussy about drawings, okay? _

_Misa agrees she would show the picture to Taiki later on. _

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

"I can't fall in love again…"

"I can't go through this again…"

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_A blue haired girl was sitting alone in her room, in the dark. Only the light from the moon was allowed to enter. _

_She was looking outside her window, looking at the stars. Her once beautiful face was tear stricken. She had black circles under her eyes as if she hadn't been sleeping for days. It seems like she just recently cried because her eyes were red and puffy. _

_The girl was lost in her thoughts and it seemed like they were disturbing her as she started to shake. She covered her mouth, but a cry escaped._

"_I miss you…" she whispered in a raspy voice._

_She then looked up and you could now see that fresh tears were streaming down her face once again. Hurt and pain were reflected on it as she tried desperately to wipe them away and stop herself from crying. But knowing that she couldn't, she instead buried her head on her lap and cried._

_It had been like this almost every day. As much as she treasured books, she didn't know if she could even look at it. It reminded her too much about him. Just like her, books were his passion in life. She remembered one time when they were searching for the same book in the school library and ended up arguing over who was first and not. She looked once again out into the sky and a single whisper escaped her lips. One single name,_

"…_Taiki…"_

**/End of Flashbacks\**

**-**

"I won't let myself fall again for you. I'm sorry…" Ami said out loud and put away the photo of him.

She went to her nightstand and was going to pull out a necklace, when she laid her eyes on a silver frame. Picking it up slowly she closed her eyes for a brief moment, holding it close to her heart. One single tear escaped from her eye as she brought the frame close to her face and kissed it. Putting it back on her nightstand, she then takes out a necklace that was given to her by her boyfriend, Ryo, on their one-month anniversary.

_"What will happen to Ryo? I can't do this to him. I love him as much as Taiki, but…"_

She then went to a mirror and put on the golden necklace and tried to smile.

"I have a boyfriend now and he makes me happy, so I have to forget him." Ami sighed, as she looked back at the picture frame where it had a picture of her and Ryo.

The couple on the picture looked happy as they stood in an amusement park. Ami was smiling, while Ryo was grinning as he had his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin on top of her head.

-----

**At Usagi's place**

Usagi woke up as usual to her alarm clock's ringing. She went to the bathroom, taking a long bath. While bathing she thought of yesterday's event. Three Lights have come back! Seiya's back, but why is she sad? Yesterday she and Seiya hardly spoke to each other.

-

**/Flashback\**

_As the group were happily chatting, Usagi and Seiya were the only ones who weren't joining them. They were staring at each for a long time, and then Seiya started to talk._

"_Hello Odango."_

"_Hello Seiya. How are you?" _

"I'm fine and you?" 

"_I'm fine here too."_

"_Nice to see you."_

"_You too."_

_Then a long silence occurred. For a long time they just stood there, staring at each other. Memories of the old times came flooding up their minds. The group soon noticed Usagi's and Seiya's quietness. They were just standing there, staring at each other, not saying anything._

_The Usagi smiled,_

"_I hope you'll enjoy your stay here."_

"_Thanks."_

**Silence**

"_Well, anyway I have to go back to my table." _

"_Yeah, I better go back to my ordering."_

"_So…" Usagi said._

"_So…" Seiya repeated._

**Silence**

"_We should eat lunch together someday." Usagi suggested._

"_Yeah, that would be great." Seiya nodded and smiled._

**Silence**

"_Anyway, I have to go now. Bye." Usagi finally said._

"_Bye."_

_Usagi walked away from the group, leaving Taiki and Yaten stunned wondering what the hell just happened? _

**/End of Flashbacks\**

**-**

"Maybe I should call Seiya and ask what he's doing today? That's a great idea. Then maybe we could sit somewhere and talk. It's been so long since I've talked to him." Usagi said to herself as she gets out of the tub.

"… _Too long… I have to ask him about it. If he meant everything that was in it…"_

Walking back to her room, she picked up the phone and dialled.

-----

**At the phone**

"Moshi, moshi?" a deep voice answered, which she recognised.

"H-hello? Is this Seiya?"

"Odango?"

"Hai! How are you?"

"Just fine. So… I didn't know you were up this early?" Seiya said, shocked over that Usagi had called in the morning. Not that it was a bad thing, but the old image of her that he remembered was that she always slept late. And she wasn't the one to call early in the morning and to him, out of all people.

"Heh… well, I kind of grew up from that habit.

Erm… I was wondering if you had plans today?" Usagi laughed softly on the phone.

"Odango, are you asking me for a date? Ne, odango atama. So you finally fell for my charms."

"N-no… that's not it! I just wanted to meet you and do something fun like in the old days."

"Erm… I don't know. I have to check my agenda and…"

"If you can't today, then it's ok. I understand if you're busy. Maybe we can meet up some other time, besides I have to go to work and finish the preparations."

"Wait a minute, I can…"

"No, that's ok. You shouldn't cancel your important meetings just because I wanted to meet you. I'm really sorry for disturbing you. Ja ne, Seiya!"

"Odango, chotto…!" but before Seiya could finish his sentence, Usagi had already hung up.

-----

Usagi had hung up the phone so quickly before Seiya could respond.

As she threw herself back on her bed, she couldn't help but sigh. Maybe she was wrong in calling him at first place. Maybe it was wrong at all to even think of him. But Seiya was important to her. He's after all her best friend, but was he more than just her friend? Why didn't her heart stop beating fast, when she thought of him? Where came all these feelings?

Usagi quickly stood up and went over to her drawer. She opened the top and started to dig among the clothes. It was here somewhere. She knew it was here. It had to be here, she thought as she dug frantically. A smile formed on her face as she found what she was looking for. She held it up triumphantly and twirled around before clutching it close to her chest.

It was a letter. Not any letter, but the letter. The letter he had left for her, or as she thought. But she could've been wrong. Maybe he had just thrown it away, never having any intention of giving it to her. But it had somehow come to her and it was now hers.

Usagi could still remember that day, in details. How could she not? The letter was everything she hated, but also loved. It was the object that kept her wanting to forget and at the same time remember.

-

**/Flashbacks\**

_The wind suddenly blew hard and right as she was going to head home she suddenly tripped. Usagi sighed, knwing that if she was going to prepare for her duties, then the first she had to do was overcome her clumsiness._

_The wind blew once more and Usagi covered her eyes just so she wouldn't get anything in her eyes. When something caught her attention. _

"_Are…? What's this?" _

_There on the ground in front of her feet laid an envelope. But there wasn't any address written on it._

_Usagi opened the envelope carefully. Taking a peek inside, she suddenly gets a strange feeling, yet so familiar. The letter wasn't perfumed or anything, but she recognized this scent. For some reason it was as if it was meant to be found by her. She didn't know why, but she just knew. This was a feeling she hadn't felt for so long. Usagi started to read,_

_**All the living things living in this universe have the brilliance of a  
star hidden inside their bodies... One of them, in one person...  
I met somebody with that brilliance shining with exceptional strength,  
on this planet I've flowed to.**_

_**Odango... Being allowed to call you that may be like someone other than  
me , but that kind of thing doesn't matter. I just call you that because  
I want to. First, are there any boys besides me... Odango.**_

_"No… This can't be! It can't be…" she whispered and continued reading._

_Inviting you on dates, volunteering as your bodyguard, meeting with you  
for a crash course in softball... Taiki was shocked, and said I care too  
much... I'm the type who acts immediately on my feelings, so I didn't  
think too deeply about it, but maybe Taiki's right... And I'm falling in love._

_But in her heart she wished for something else… _

**_Ever since we first met at the airport,  
I've surely had you on my mind. But is it that as a soldier I was  
charmed by the power you emit? Or is it that, carrying the heart of a  
boy, I was charmed by you..._**

_All I can say is this. I love the light you're carrying! Got it?  
You're an extremely lucky, happy person to be cared for so much by  
this Seiya-sama._

_"It can't be…" _

**_Hey Odango, did you do your homework? There's nothing you can do about  
forgetting your eraser. You say you want to see a recording?  
Nope, no way, nobody's allowed in except those involved. ...Oh, all right.  
But it's because you're special._**

_**Say, Odango. I think there is surely a battle more painful than those up  
to now waiting for us. But at all times, I will be by your side,  
and I will help to protect you...**_

"_Seiya…" she whispered, feeling a tear roll down._

"… _I am so sorry for causing you so much pain…"_

"… _I'm sorry for never returning your feelings…"_ _she thought._

**/End of Flashbacks\**

-

**Three Lights' apartment**

Seiya had tried to say something, but didn't get the chance cause Usagi had hung up. What was she so nervous about on the phone? She had changed alright. Yesterday she was quiet and today she was nervous and kept apologizing and even hung up, before he could answer. He was only kidding about being busy. Of course he wanted to see her. That was the main reason to why he came back.

Seiya sighed out of frustration. This was getting more difficult than ever. How will he ever win her heart if she kept doing what she was doing? And what was going on with Yaten and Taiki? They had been acting very strange since they got home from dinner last night. Who were those men sitting with Usagi and the others?

Seiya gave out another sigh and looked at the clock. It was 9 in the morning. He wanted to go to Usagi's house, but was afraid of that her family might see this as impolite with visiting on the morning and on a Sunday. He hesitated for a bit, but then grabbed his jacket and went out. He was going to meet Usagi.

----

**At Usagi's place**

Usagi had run up and down in the house, holding paintings. Her agent had called earlier and whined about the gallery. He had kept whining for what seemed to Usagi as a never-ending whine. Usagi had now understood what her friends meant about her whining and thanked the gods that they still kept together. Mr Mitsuko had exploded on the phone that the gallery was a total mess and that she had to get there right away. He was very demanding, but that was what made him one of the best. And she admired him for that, cause if it wasn't for him then she wouldn't be as famous as she was now and she had him to thank for. He was also kind, that's if you don't get on his bad side.

"Dad, Shingo, mom? Anyone? Can you help me with some paintings? I have to take these to the art gallery!" Usagi yelled to her family, who were downstairs.

Kenji and Shingo walked up to Usagi's room. Inside were a lot of paintings that she had been painting for over the weeks. Shingo whistled as he said,

"Wow, those weren't a few paintings."

"Yeah, yeah. Could you please help me put these into my car. I have to stop by my studio also to pick up some more paintings that I've done."

"Sure princess. Your mom can't help, because she's out shopping with Ami-san's mom. These are beautiful paintings, honey. You've been working a lot lately, haven't you?" Kenji said.

"Hai, the event will come soon, so I had to finish them." Usagi nodded, picking up a picture of her standing in a garden with flowers.

"Okay, but don't stress yourself out. I don't want to see my baby girl in a hospital, surrounded by male doctors, otherwise they will have to meet both me and uncle shotgun."

Usagi sweat dropped by hearing her father's words. Her dad could be sweet and caring, but at the same time scaring. In all her years, her dad had always chased boys away. He didn't care as long as they kept their distance. If any girl would come up and say that they're daddies were too overprotecting, then Usagi would laugh at them cause no one had an overprotecting dad as hers. And everyone knew about it. But she loved her father and was very thankful for his overprotection, cause at least no one would dare try to use her.

"This is a beautiful painting, but what is it?" Shingo said, looking at a picture with a woman holding a golden ball as her eyes was covered with a long silver veil. A wind was swirling around the woman, who seemed to be like tiny people, and she stood under the moonlight.

"Shingo, don't you know who the woman is representing?"

"Uh… no!"

Usagi sweat dropped,

"Well, the woman is destiny. The wind represents all those people who have their futures decided by her and the golden orb is the future she's holding."

"Wow, must be tough to have their futures already decided. I know I wouldn't want that."

"_You have no idea, bro."_ Usagi thought.

"How sad. Anyway if you want sweetie, Shingo and I can follow you to your gallery and help you."

"Thanks dad, but I think I can manage." Usagi smiled at her father.

"Are you sure?"

"Hai, I just needed help with loading and…"

"Odango! Sorry for visiting you so early, but…" Seiya called, making the whole family turn at his direction.

Usagi stared at him with wide eyes, but then smiled. She wasn't expecting him to come, not after what she just did over the phone. But she dismissed it and thought of something else. Maybe it was a good thing that he'd come cause now she could ask him later afterwards about something important. Usagi was going to say something, when a voice belonging to her father boomed. She turned wide-eyed to her dad, before turning back her gaze to Seiya. No, poor Seiya. If she doesn't do anything fast, then Seiya might not ever visit her again or worse, even be near her.

"Usagi! Who the hell is he?"

"A… um… daddy, this is Seiya. He's a…" Usagi started to say something, but was too nervous and worried, until Seiya answered calmly,

"I'm her special friend."

"Special friend? Special as in boyfriend? Usagi, explain! Now! I never raised you up just so you can run after boys." Kenji hollered, starting to get red from anger. If looks could kill, both her and Seiya would be dead by now.

"Dad, he's just a friend. A friend!" Usagi tried to explain.

"Boyfriend, huh? Ne, Usagi-baka… So you've decided to dump Mamoru-san for a rockstar?" Shingo sneered as he put his hands behind his head.

"Shingo, you're not helping!"

"Tsukino-san, I'm Seiya Kou. It's nice to finally meet you. Odan… I mean, Usagi have told me alot about her family, but I never got to meet you all until now." Seiya laughed and shook Usagi's dad's hand.

Usagi stood there amazed by how well Seiya handled the situation. She was shocked over this, because usually the guys would've run for their lives the moment they see her dad's threathning looks or hear his yells.

"Aaa… so you're Usagi's friend. How close are you two?"

"Well, we're best friends, but we're more than friends."

"More? What do you mean with more?"

"I mean, she's very important to me. More important than just a friend."

"I see. Well, at least you seem to be more of a candidate as my daughter's future husband, than this other man. What's his name now? Mormoru? Mamora?"

"Dad! His name is Mamoru!" Usagi exclaimed, starting to get angry over what she just heard.

"That's right! Mamoru-san! Never liked the guy. He's too stiff, even though he's a very intelligent man."

"You mean, boring?" Shingo put in.

"Yes, that's the word I was looking for!" Kenji said out loud and laughed for a bit.

"Dad! Shingo! Don't say such things about Mamo-chan! Anyway, why are you here?" Usagi turned her attention towards Seiya after scolding both her dad and her brother.

"Is that how you greet friends nowadays? I came because I was worried. You call me and ask me questions and then you hang up on me before I can answer."

"Yep, typical Usagi."

"Be quiet, Shingo!"

"But if you don't mind, I would like to help you. I have so much to tell you." Seiya smiled as he took the paintings, Usagi was carrying.

Usagi stood there and blushed as she saw Seiya put her paintings carefully into her car. Shingo just shook his head and shoved Usagi to the side, saying that if she kept blushing then she might turn into a tomato. Kenji watched the teenagers and smiled as if knowing something.

-

Unbeknownst to anyone a shadowy figure swept through the trees. It had been standing there for a while as it watched them carefully, especially the blonde girl. Soon an evil formed on its face, while thinking of something evilly.

_"Soon, little princess. Soon I'll get my revenge. Everything you have and everyone you love will be mine, and you will have none."_

* * *

**A/N: **

7th chapter everyone! Sorry for not updating fast enough, but it's been so stressing these past couple of weeks. I'm just finished with all my exams and concerts. yay! Now I can relax. Well, not really cause I have my job, but I don't have to pick up any more schoolbooks until august again.

Also right now, I'm working with a new story. And for those who love the shittenou/senshi pairing, here is a preview for the story with my favourite couples, Rei/Jadeite!

-

-

-

-

-

**Memories of the Casablanca Lily**

A girl was sitting out on the porch, staring at the sky. Her long raven hair cascaded in the wind as a cool breeze swept in the hot summer night. She was lost in her thoughts. Thoughts of yesterday's event.

_"Who was that man? What big role did he play in the past?"_

-

A young man was walking down the street. Never caring for where he went, he also was in deep thoughts.

_"Mars…"_

-

-

-

Hope you'll like it! Anyway, new chapters of **Then there were you** will come soon. So just you all wait in your chairs patiently. hihi

Ja!

**/Moonlight Bunny**


	8. Revelations

**Then there were you**

**By **

**Moonlight Bunny **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the SM characters. Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns them.

**Summary: **Usagi and her friends finally graduate and live a normal life, after their last battle against Galaxia. Just as they thought that everything would be ok, something happens which put the whole future in danger. Mamoru goes back to the States to finish his studies, the Three Lights are back and accidents starts to happen, as well as broken hearts.

**A/N:** Ohayo, minna! sorry for the late update, but I got some problem because the file was too big so I had to shorten it and put them in the later chapters. It was kind of difficult cause I had to change the storyline. TT so... this is my favourite chapter so far. You'll know why. ;D anyway, on with the story! yay!

_

* * *

**Previously**_

_"Our… our princess…" Minako started. _

_"Usa-chan, loves…" Rei continued. _

_"Seiya-san." Ami ended. _

_"Hai, she loved him all this time." Makoto nodded as she watched the two of them stare at each other. _

_- _

_"Now the Starlights have come back and Yaten… I'm afraid. I don't want to go back to how things were. But…Meeting Yaten-kun last night woke up unwanted feelings. The same feelings that I felt the last time he was here. __Oh kami-sama! __Am I still in love with him?" _

_"It can't be!" _

_"It can't be what?" said a voice behind Minako, as she felt two strong arms around her waist. _

_- _

_"I can't fall in love again…" _

_"I can't go through this again…" _

_"What will happen to Ryo? I can't do this to him. I love him as much as Taiki, but…"_

_She then went to a mirror and put on the golden necklace and tried to smile. _

_"I have a boyfriend now and he makes me happy, so I have to forget him." Ami sighed, as she looked back at the picture frame where it had a picture of her and Ryo. _

_The couple on the picture looked happy as they stood in an amusement park. Ami was smiling, while Ryo was grinning as he had his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin on top of her head. _

_- _

_She opened the top and started to dig among the clothes. It was here somewhere. She knew it was here. It had to be here, she thought as she dug frantically. A smile formed on her face as she found what she was looking for. She held it up triumphantly and twirled around before clutching it close to her chest. _

_It was a letter. Not any letter, but the letter. The letter he had left for her, or as she thought. But she could've been wrong. Maybe he had just thrown it away, never having any intention of giving it to her. But it had somehow come to her and it was now hers. _

_Usagi could still remember that day, in details. How could she not? The letter was everything she hated, but also loved. It was the object that kept her wanting to forget and at the same time remember. _

_- _

_"Why are you here?" _

_"Is that how you greet friends nowadays? I came because I was worried. You call me and ask me questions and then you hang up on me before I can answer." _

**

* * *

**

**Chapter eight: Revelations**

"No, not there! The painting should be over there." Usagi yelled out smiling as she pointed at a direction, but then stopped and thought that the painting would do so much better where it was hanging a couple of seconds ago. Seiya who stopped on his track, stood and waited for Usagi's instructions and then went back to hang it there, when,

"On the other hand, maybe it should be there so it matches the theme. But the colours are all wrong… Nope… Seiya, put it over there instead and…" Usagi said, frowning as she thought for a while to what she was going to do with the painting Seiya was holding. But then Seiya went towards her and put the painting down and sighed,

"Odango, when I offered you a hand, I thought I'd only be helping you with loading your stuff in the car and out of the car and not run around with a painting."

"Heh… gomen ne, Seiya-san. I guess I get a little bit bossy sometimes. I'm just nervous 'cause my big opening will be in a couple of weeks and I'm still not finish with two more arts and my manager is on my back all the time." Usagi sweat dropped, then took the painting from Seiya and went to hang it on a different place.

"You should take it easy. If you stress too much, then you'll get sick and your dad might get angry with me. You do know, that your dad's scary?"

"Aaa… well, you should feel lucky 'cause somehow dad seemed to like you earlier. If he didn't then you'd be running for your life. I know, because he's chased away a lot of guys and even Mamo-chan's afraid of being at the same place as he."

"Chased away guys?" Seiya asked with a worried face, his right eyebrow twitching from hearing the word _'chased'_.

"Hai! Let's say that every guy who's ever laid their eyes on me or even tried chancing with me, have faced daddy's wrath. He's not that bad, he's just overprotective. Maybe it's because I'm a girl? Maybe it's because he remembered when he was young and was just like all those other boys? I can't really tell, but I'm thankful for having him as my dad. And you should be thankful too for him not pulling out his shotgun." Usagi smiled cheerfully as she put her left hand on her left cheek.

"You mean your dad chased away your admirers with _a shotgun?.!"_ Seiya stared widely at Usagi, horror written all over his face.

"He's not that crazy, Seiya! Yes, he has a shotgun, but he's never pulled it out before. It's among his collections, besides it's too antique and valuable. If he used it, don't you think it'd be ruined? And dad has a reputation to uphold, what would his colleagues and his boss think? Other than that the guys run before they even get the chance to encounter with the shotgun." Usagi laughed and went to get a brush for the retouch of a painting she was holding onto before she took the painting Seiya was holding. Seiya stood still at the same spot he was standing on, not believing what he had just heard and that Usagi was taking it lightly.

-----

**At the recording**

"Rei-san, are you finished with the lyrics for Minako-san's new song?" A man around 30 asked the young raven beauty before him.

"Hai! I hope you'll like it." Rei smiled as she handed the music sheets to the producer.

Before she handed over the music notes, Rei could have sworn that the producer was checking her out, but she ignored it and replaced her frowns with a smile. She was used to men staring at her, and ever since she and Ami started to work with Minako, she'd notice how the male staffs would stare at them all with lust and love in their eyes, while the female staffs would give them jealous looks and sometimes looks of admiration when the three of them weren't looking. Too bad for them, Rei was a psychic and ever since she trained harder, her psychic abilities became more focused and better. So whenever something would happen like a jealous female deciding to trip Ami, Rei would pull Ami away and then stop the woman's foot with her own foot and then glare at her or if another man was staring at Minako, then Rei would walk right up to him smiling before telling him off in a low, husky voice. No one dared to do anything when Rei was around or to Rei as a matter of fact. Minako thought that it was funny, while Ami just shook her head.

"Rei-channn…!.!.!" a high-pitched voice yelled behind Rei and before she even gets the chance to turn around, a blur of gold and red jumps onto her and then hugs her right arm.

"Mina-chan, don't yell out too loud. And please, don't hang onto my arm. You're heavy." Rei scolded the blonde woman, before winking and smiling gleefully at her. If it weren't for the fact that they already had boyfriends, then Minako's manager, producer and rest of the staff would've thought that they were lovers, just by looking at how the two stood close to each other like lovers and not like best friends.

"Mou… Rei-chan, you're mean!" Minako pouted, still clinging on her friend's arm.

"Yeah, well so will you're manager too if you don't get your ass in that booth. Now!"

"Hai! Hai! By the way, can I take a look at the lyrics before?" Minako said, smiling as she held out her hand.

"Sure, here you go."

-

Outside, a young man was walking back and forth. He was irritated for not finding the studio anymore and cursed those who had moved everything. He even cursed Taiki for leaving him and going to library. What was so fascinating with books, really? Sure, he'd read a few good books, but other than that they were a pain in the neck, just like the fan girls he stumbled upon when heading to the studio. They had recognized him immediately and started to swarm around him, bombing him with questions about where he had been over the years, why he was back and if he was going to do a comeback, even asked for his autographs. He had thought that they had forgotten about him and the Three Lights, but unfortunately they didn't. And where was that baka-Seiya? Earlier he had been talking on the phone and then without saying anything to them, he had just gone out. Then there was their manager, why did he call for a meeting now and then is late for it?

Yaten yelled in frustration over the bad planning and decided to look more, before going back home, when,

"Now where's that stup…" Yaten heard a familiar voice singing in the room on his left side. Curious over whom it was he went in without knocking.

_Cross my heart and hope to die  
__I'm just looking  
__There's nothing cooking  
__Please don't start to wonder why  
__You know I love you  
__Would I lie to you? _

In there he saw a blonde woman singing in the booth. She was smiling as she sang with her eyes closed. A raven-haired woman stood outside and smiled as she listened. Yaten recognised them immediately as Rei and Minako. He was impressed by Minako's singing and found his foot tapping in rhythm. He'd already heard Minako singing from before, but was amazed at how she had improved. But what amazed him more, that she was singing in English, pronouncing every words right, pouring all her feelings into it. This was a side of her, he'd never seen before. Why didn't she say anything ? But then again, he never cared and discarded her as an airhead.

_I don't know what I'm going to do  
__Should I put all my faith in you  
__Believe what you say is true? _

Rei was sitting beside the producer and listening to Minako. She smiled when Minako opened her eyes and looked at her through the glass and smiled. Rei was proud over Minako for many things and this was one of them. As she listened to Minako's singing, she couldn't help but feel sad. She cared a lot about Minako and loved her, and Minako knew that. But she also knew that nothing good would ever come out from their relationship because of the past tensions.

_"Minako…"_ Rei whispered sadly.

Inside, Minako was singing fully, pouring all her emotions in it. Thoughts were running through her head. She was lost. She had her boyfriend who loved her more than anything. Alex was her knight in shining armour. He had helped her and pulled her out from the darkness. She loved him for that and maybe more. Then there was Rei… She loved Rei, always. In early times they were once lovers, but now they were nothing more than best friends. They both know that, but promised to love and care for each other no matter what. Then there was Yaten. She loved him for what he was and more, but he never considered her love more than just a fan's obsession. But still… she loved him. What was she going to do now? He'd come back, Alex feels threaten and Rei's sad.

Minako opens her eyes and smiles at Rei as she continued, but then she sees a third person in the room where Rei and the producer was. It was a male and he had silver hair. Minako recognized him as… _Yaten!_ What was _he_ doing in this studio? How did he know that she was recording here?

Minako shrugged the questions off as she ended the song.

_Cross my heart and hope to die  
__I'm just looking_  
_There's nothing cooking  
__Please don't start to wonder why  
__You know I love you  
__You Know I love you_

"So, what did you think?" Minako asked as she took of the headphones.

"Good, Minako-san. Maybe we…" The producer started, but was cut off by another voice.

"You should repeat it."

"Huh?" Rei quickly turned around, knowing fully well who it was. Earlier she had felt a presence enter, but didn't care cause she was busy listening to Minako' singing.

"I said, take it again… I'd like to hear the whole song, please?" Yaten repeated, giving Minako a smile.

"Hai…" Minako smiled and signalled for the producer to start over again.

As soon as the music started, Minako waited for her cue to sing,

_I saw my dreams come true  
__The day I met and talked to you  
__I thought I got it made  
__Dreams like this could never fade  
_

_You call me a jealous girl but I'm not blind to see  
__When I see you looking round at other girls instead of me_

_You say  
__"Cross my heart and hope to die, I'm just looking  
__There's nothing cooking  
__Please don't start to wonder why  
__You know I love you  
__Would I lie to you…_

**_(A/N: Cross my heart by Ayaka Komatsu) _**

-

"What brings you to this studio, Yaten-kun?" Minako asked after she was finished with the recording. Rei had gone to discuss the materials with the staff. Minako was supposed to be at the meeting, but was told by Rei that she could talk with Yaten instead. Besides, it wouldn't take long and Minako was waiting for Alex 'cause he had promised her a date.

"I heard from our manager that someone had booked our studio for the next week, so I had too see who it was who stole our place." Yaten explained.

"Well, that was me. Gomen…"

"You were really good in there. I didn't know that you were good with English."

"Aaa, well I lived in London earlier before I came back to Japan and join with everyone here." Minako blushed as she stood up and turned around, looking at the poster where an old Sailor V-poster was hanging. She then turned her attention back to Yaten and smiled, which caused Yaten to blush.

"Sorry about yesterday."

"It's ok. I was shocked though over seeing you all three back."

"So, was it you who wrote the lyrics?"

"Nope, it was Rei-chan. You know, Rei-chan's a good singer. She used to perform a lot on festivals and other big events. I envied her, because she was everything I wish to be. She was a good singer and performer, intelligent, beautiful, talented in every way and a very good fighter. She's pretty rich also... because of her father. He's a powerful politician." Minako exclaimed. Happiness and admiration glittered in her eyes when she spoke about Rei.

"I always wondered cause the private school she went to were only for those who had parents that could afford it."

"There's your answer. Well, I admired her a lot and was a bit disappointed when she decided to not become a singer. Her chances of becoming a singer had come many times, but she never took it. I can understand why. Her father thought it was unsuitable for her to be a singer, especially if she was the daughter of a very respected and powerful politician. Then there's the shrine and her grandfather. She's the only heir to the shrine and her grandfather's old and needs help with keeping the place still popular for the visitors. Although her dream is to become a singer, she dreams also of taking over the shrine and become a priestess. Being a priestess is what everyone in Japan sees as the highest position. At first I thought that she only wanted it because of the position, but there's more to it than what the eye meets." Minako continued smiling as she told Yaten about Rei. Yaten could see that Minako was proud and happy over Rei, but there was something that bothered him though,

"So how did she become your songwriter?"

"I made her, threatened, cried and even whined. Even if she chose the dream of being the priestess, I still want her to hold onto her dream of becoming one with music, so I made her a songwriter. And she's good with writing. So… what brought you back here to earth, really?" Minako explained, sticking out her tongue, before laughing when she remembered those times she bothered Rei about being her songwriter and when Rei sighed at defeat and agreed to.

"Well, we're finished with the re-building and Kakyuu-sama rewarded us with taking a long vacation."

"Well, I hope that you enjoy your stay here and…" Minako was cut off, when a pair of arms sneaked around her waist and a familiar voice yelled out.

"Minako!" Alex called out, making Minako jump and in return bumping her head towards his chin, while Yaten who was standing near her frowned and wondered who the blonde guy was.

"Ahh… Alex! How many times have I told you? Never sneak up behind me."

"Never sneak behind you." Alex mimicked, still smiling.

"Stop that!" Both Minako and Alex said out loud.

"I'm serious, Alex!"

"I'm serious, Mina!" Alex whispered into her ears, making the blonde woman blush.

_"Hey, you two lovebirds! Stop it already!"_

"Oi, Rei-san! Nice to meet you again." Alex greeted, when hearing the familiar voice that belonged to none other than Minako's _beloved_ best friend, Hino Rei. He let go of Minako for a moment and walked towards Rei. He then took Rei's right hand and kissed it, making Yaten stare at them with shock written on his face. Minako giggled on the other hand when seeing Rei blush. Rei didn't see it coming and was as shocked as Yaten, and so she took her hand away quickly as if she had been burned.

"Ditto…" Rei rolled her eyes.

"Oh, by the way Alex, you've met Yaten-kun already, but I never got the time to introduce you to each other." Minako then ran and hugged Alex's left arm and smiled as she gestured towards Yaten.

"Yaten-kun, this is Alex, my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you, Yaten-san!" Alex greeted politely and shook Yaten's hand, before turning his attention back towards Minako,

"So shall we go then, my love?"

"Hai! Where to?"

"Oh, I was thinking to the park."

"The park…?" Minako asked, when it dawned on her,

"You remembered! Ah… thank you, thank you, thank you!" Minako happily jumped onto Alex and pecked his cheek over and over again. Rei rolled her eyes and turned around, muttering about something that wasn't good for her karma, while Yaten stared at them wide-eyed, jealousy showing from his green eyes.

"Maybe I should promise to take you out on all those places you want to got to, if this is the kind of reward I get." Alex laughed, his arms still wrapped around Minako's waist. Minako waved goodbye quickly to her friends, before turning her fully attention towards Alex as they walked off.

At the distance both Rei and Yaten could hear Alex telling Minako about how good it went on his photo shoot and that his friend Gyo had told him to congratulate on her rise to stardom. Minako was laughing melodiously and smiling heartedly as she held onto Alex's arm, while joking about Gyo.

"She has a…" Yaten said, but then stopped.

"Yes, Yaten-kun. Minako has a boyfriend. He's also an idol, quite famous among the female population. They kept it a secret, afraid that the ones they cared for would get hurt by the media and not to forget, the fans."

"For how long?"

"Five months…"

"I see."

"You know, you can't expect her to wait for you forever. You should have seen her after you left. She was devastated, nearly collapsed from her depression. Then he came. If it wasn't for him, then I don't know what she would've done. I don't know if you coming back were a good idea. Whatever happens now, I'll be there to help her, just like I've been there for the others." Rei said, staring at him with anger in her eyes. Yaten have never seen Rei like this. Was she jealous?

"You care so much about her."

"Hai… I love her. She means more than anything to me." Rei nodded and continued to stare at Minako and Alex who were by now far away. She then turned her gaze at Yaten and smiled bitterly,

"Don't think of something indecent now. I didn't mean that way. Minako and I've been the best of friends since we met the first time. Somehow we understood each other, saw each other's soul. I don't know why, but maybe it's because of our past lives. Long time ago, Venus and Mars were lovers but they're love couldn't be. Time passed after it and two princesses of each planet were born. Those two became friends and allies, if it weren't for the moon princess meeting the earth prince, then they wouldn't have met his generals and fallen in love. The two princesses would have become lovers like their ancestors, but instead fell in love with someone else. And then they were betrayed and killed by the hands of their own lovers. They were re-born into our forms." Rei continued, remembering every detail of the past.

"Minako and I were the princesses of Mars and Venus, and thus carried forth our identities as Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus, just like in the past. Though we have other lovers, we still love each other."

"You talk too much!" Yaten retorted, causing Rei to raise her perfect eyebrows up.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You say that you two were past lovers, that you love her very much and yet you couldn't help her with her unhappiness."

"Don't you think I tried? You talk so much yourself, but you don't even know the whole truth! When you all left, what did you think happened to Ami? To Minako? To Usa?" Rei snapped and Yaten saw how her eyes changed from anger to sadness. Rei forced a smile as she looked into Yaten's eyes with sadness,

"You three were important to us, but mostly to Ami, Usa and Minako. Ami lost all her senses and became unfocused for a while on her studies and duties! Usa was torn between her destiny as the future queen, being the future wife and mother to Mamoru and Chibi-Usa and with her wish of wanting to be a normal girl and run after the one she truly loves! And for Minako, who was the love goddess. Seeing you off was the hardest she ever did. She nearly became insane with trying to find out why she was born as the goddess of Love and yet be unhappy in finding love herself. How do you think this affected me and Mako?" Rei asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"We both tried hard to find a way to get them out from their state of conditions. We were worn out, tired and sad. We all became depressed and at times we were hoping for a miracle. Usagi had somehow pulled it, Ami met her old friend who helped her, but Minako…"

**/Flashbacks\**

_A girl entered the room. She had long raven hair, violet eyes and her complexion was white. She was considered a beauty and there were even those who said, that if Snow White was a real live person, than the Snow White would be her. _

_As she entered the room she gasped at the sight before her. It wasn't that the curtains was pulled close that made the room dark, nor was it the untidy bed or the clothes that laid scattered all over the floor or the posters of Three Lights that were ripped from the walls. No, it was the sight of another young girl that was sitting on the floor. Her golden hair was uncombed and the red ribbon she usually wore was nowhere to be found. She was pale and had bags under her eyes. Her eyes were red as fresh tears started to fall. _

_The raven-haired girl stared at her blonde friend in horror and ran immediately to her. Her footsteps caused the blonde to look up and whisper, _

_"Rei-chan…" _

_"Minako! __Kami-sama! Look at you! Please stop this, you have to get out of this… please…" Rei pleaded softly as she kneeled in front of Minako. _

_"Why are you here?" _

_"Your parents called. They were worried, but were afraid of doing anything that might get you worse. I came as fast as I could after they called. Have you eaten anything? Did you sleep?" Rei asked worriedly as she brushed off strands of hair from Minako's face, and then wiped her face with a handkerchief. _

_"I tried eating a piece of bread earlier, but it felt like it was choking me. I couldn't sleep either…" _

_"Stop this! Please, Mina… you have to try. I can't stand seeing you like this."_

_"I… I can't… __It won't stop hurting." Minako replied, choking on her words as more tears started to fall. Rei put her hands on Minako's shoulders, making the blonde look up to her, as she asked, _

_"Hurting? Where? Did someone hurt you?" _

_"It won't stop hurting here… Here inside… Why?" Minako whispered silently as she took Rei's hand and brought it up to her left chest. She smiled for a bit, but then cried as she continued, _

_"I don't understand why? Why was I even born to be the love goddess, when I can't find love for myself?" _

_"Mina…" Rei whispered as she stared at her friend sadly. _

_"They all left me. Every man that I've ever loved has left me. Even Yaten-kun and he was a girl." _

_"Minako!" Rei cried out, making Minako to stare at her wide-eyed. Rei looked at her intensely, her violet eyes reflecting anger. But the anger soon turned into sadness and Minako saw tears forming in Rei's eyes. Tears of sadness that fell on Rei's cheek. Minako brought her right hand up to Rei's left cheek and wiped the tears. _

_"What about me?" Rei asked as she started to cry. _

_"Rei…" _

_"What about me? I loved you in our past lives and I love you still. How do I feel, when I hear you talk about those other men? What do you think I feel when I see you like this?" _

_"Gomen ne. I've forgotten you. I forgot our love from our past." Minako smiled sadly, knowing fully well that there could never be between them. _

_"Minako, you have to get out from this condition you're in. Can't you try to fight? For me?" Rei hugged her friend, as they both cried onto each other's shoulders. _

_"Rei-chan… H-hai! For you, I'll try…" Minako whispered._

**/End of Flashbacks\**

"She became better, butshe was still in the samestate until Alex-san came... I guess I was angry because he was the one who managed to bring her out from her depression and not me, but I was happy. I'd rather see her happy in the arms of another manthan being unhappy and alone." Rei sighed sadly as she looked once again at the direction where Minako and her boyfriend had taken.

"But don't you have a boyfriend? Don't you love him?" Yaten asked curious, remembering Rei kissing a brown haired man last night.

"I do love him. But Minako have a place in my heart and she had gotten before him. Maybe there can never be anything between me and her, but I know that we will continue to love each other and be there for each other. That's why I'm telling you this now. If something happens, then don't dare hurt her again. She's been through this and so have the others. If you do, then you'll have to face me."

"Is that a threat?" Yaten raised a brow as he looked fiercely at Rei, getting a glare back.

"I don't do threats. It's not my style to stoop down so low. This is a warning. I'm only saying this to you, cause you're the only one who have the capacity to put her back in her old state. And I don't want to see her in it again." Rei said calmly, as the two young adults stood still and studied each other carefully.

-----

**At the library**

A young couple was in a library. The young blue-haired woman was sitting and reading on the back of the book, while the brown-haired man was searching for something through the shelves. He then finds it and takes it, while walking back to his girlfriend. A smile was plastered on his face as he held the book triumphantly in front of her.

"What about this book, Ami?" Ami looked up and stared at her boyfriend questions written on her face. She then smiled when recognizing the cover,

"I didn't know you liked reading Lord Byron."

"Well, I only do it 'cause you love reading his poems." Ryo winked.

"You don't have to read the same ones that I do."

"But I want to, as long as it's your favourite."

"Ryo…" Ami whispered and started to blush when she saw Ryo's face near her. She smiled and was going to give into the kiss when,

"Oi, you two there! This is a public place, if you want to get all lovey dovey, then do it at your place or better yet, go, get a room!" a man, who seemed to be around 20, yelled.

"Be quiet and mind your own business." Another male voice yelled, who was sitting not far from them.

"Yeah, leave those two alone. Don't you know that they're love will last forever?" a young teenage girl shouted, causing Ami and Ryo to blush even more.

"Maybe we should go before anything more happens." Ami suggested.

"I agree." Ryo nodded as they collected their things and the books that they were going to borrow.

"So university will start soon. Did you get all the materials you needed?"

"Hai! I bought them as soon as I found out that I got in. I'm so excited, meeting new people, stepping into a new environment, learning more." Ami laughed happily.

"Already? I haven't gotten all the materials. I talked to Shinozaki earlier and he also got accepted so he'll be taking up law."

"Minako and Makoto didn't apply. You already know why, but Rei and Usagi got accepted. They haven't gotten their books yet. They should do it fast if they want to do well." Ami shook her head and sighed.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they won't find it hard in keeping up. By the way, I can go and borrow these, so just rest your pretty feet and wait." Ryo smiled as he gave her a quick kiss and disappeared. Ami stared at her boyfriend and smiled. He was everything to her, then and now. She did the right decision, but now she was questioning that decision.

Ami turned and started to walk to a nearby bench. She was thinking hard cause she didn't notice that she bumped into someone until she landed on her bum, hitting the ground hard. Ami winced from the pain, before realising that she had bumped into someone and probably hurt the person more than she hurt herself. She apologised and started to get up, when she saw a hand stretched out to her.

"Gomen nasai! I wasn't really looking. I'm really sorry!"

"Taiki-san!" Ami said, when she looked up to the owner of the hand. She took his hand and got up. She then brushed off some dirt from her blue dress and bowed in apology.

"So… How are you?" Taiki asked politely.

"I'm… I'm just fine. What about you?"

"I feel the same here too."

"Ami! Shall we go before… Hello? Hey, I know you! Weren't you one of those men from the restaurant yesterday?" Ryo exclaimed, after he had gone to look for Ami.

"Yes, I am."

"Ahaha… um… Ryo, this is Kou Taiki-san. He's an old friend of mine and Usagi's and the others. He's visiting us… Um, Taiki-san! This is Ryo, my…my…" Ami stammered nervously.

_"Oh, god. I don't think I can handle this."_

"Her boyfriend!" Ryo said extending his hand in a firm handshake with Taiki's hand, before putting his right arm around Ami's waist, making sure that the tall man before him saw it.

"Well, it was nice to meet you."

"Ditto… I hope I didn't interrupt anything important here."

"Oh no, you weren't."

"Okay, then… shall we get going? We have reservations." Ryo asked Ami, who was blushing by the awkwardness.

"Hai! Sumimasen, Taiki-san."

"That's ok. Maybe we could meet another time?" Taiki suggested.

"Hai." Ami replied and soon walked off with Ryo.

Taiki remained at the same spot as he watched the couple disappear. Ami had a boyfriend. Of course she had! She never felt anything more than just admiration towards him back then. Besides, it was just a matter of time when she'd find somebody. Not like she found it hard to find somebody. She didn't only have brains but she had a nice personality and she was beautiful. Of course she would be taken by the time he'd come back to Earth.

Taiki suddenly felt a pang inside his chest. Why was he feeling pain and sadness? Most importantly, why was he jealous?

* * *

**Later at a restaurant**

A young couple was sitting at a restaurant. They were talking about the old times, while they were waiting for their orders.

"Want to know a secret, Seiya?" the blonde woman said all of a sudden.

"Do I want to?" Seiya raised a brow and smirked.

"You know, I'm not that perfect as everyone thinks. Yes, I have my Mamo-chan, my friends and family. I have a career and I'll soon be attending Todai. And to top that, I'm a princess soon to be the queen, but…" Usagi paused before she continued,

"What if I didn't have this? What if I never discovered my truth? What if I never met everyone? I would've lived differently. I am thankful for everything that I got, but inside I really didn't want this. I wanted to be a normal girl. I never wanted to be the princess. I didn't want to have a burden on my shoulders. Rei, Mina-chan, Ami-chan, Mako-chan and Luna knew about this. They knew that my biggest wish was for me being an ordinary girl. All of them have told me that I can do it, but they know that I really can't. We've sacrificed too much for the future. Sometimes I think that we're just merely pawns in a game that fate and destiny play." Usagi gave Seiya a smile, but Seiya wasn't the one to be fooled and he could see the sadness reflecting in her eyes.

"I love everyone and they love me, but I'd be selfish if I threw away everything that was given to me. There were times when I wished to run away from all of this. I've had my chance a lot of times, but the picture of this little girl would always come up and that's where I stop to run away and go back. It was for her sake that I kept going on, living with this burden."

"Little girl? Who is she?" Seiya asked, wondering who that girl was that stopped Usagi from following her own needs.

"Someone who has a big place in my heart." Usagi answered and gave a smile, which showed that she really loved the little girl. Usagi realised that she had something to say,

"By the way, I've read your letter."

"What lett…" Seiya asked, but stopped when he saw Usagi take out a familiar envelope from her bag.

"This one. I hope you don't get mad."

"Where did you find it? How did you…?"

"Few months after you all left, I was walking around in town. I had gotten back my test that day and I remembered being happy, because I got another 98 points on my math test."

"_You got a 98_?" Seiya asked with wide eyes, not believing what he had just heard.

"Don't be so surprised. I studied really hard, days before the math test. And yes, I was studying and doing my lessons. Everyone was surprised because of the changes, but they were proud and happy that I decided to take a hold of it and focus on my work... Anyway, I was thinking hard that day that I didn't think of where I was going and how long I've been walking, and before I knew it I stood outside your place. I found it very strange that I'd be walking all the way to your old home, that when I was going to turn around…"

**/Flashbacks\**

_The wind suddenly blew hard and right as she was going to head home she suddenly tripped. Usagi sighed, knowing that if she was going to prepare for her duties, then the first she had to do was overcome her clumsiness. She knew that Neo queen Serenity was very graceful in the future as princess Serenity was in the past. She stood up quickly and brushed of the dust from her uniform. It was going to be a hard transformation, but if she could handle the life of a senshi, then could definitely handle the life of a queen. She looked down at her feet, shaking her head in frustration. The wind blew once more and Usagi covered her eyes just so she wouldn't get anything in her eyes. When something caught her attention._

_"Are…? What's this?"_

_There on the ground in front of her feet laid an envelope. But there wasn't any address written on it._

_"Ahhh… this is a letter! But there's no saying who it is to or who wrote it? Maybe there's a name inside. No! Usagi baka! You can't read someone else's letter. It's like reading someone else's diary. What to do? What to do?" Usagi frantically waved with the letter in her hand as she was looking if there was any person near who could have dropped it. Seeing that nobody was around she looked at it again._

_"I can't return this if I don't know who's letter it is. Maybe if I just read the first line where it says 'Dear…' and the last line 'From or Love….' Maybe then I'll have a clue who's the owner of this letter. And if the person asks, I can just apologize for reading it and explain why I read it! Yes! That's a good excuse!"_

_"Besides… it might be a love letter… hihi…" Usagi squealed in delight, thinking back at when she'd get thousands of letters from her Mamo-chan._

_Usagi opened the envelope carefully. Taking a peek inside, she suddenly gets a strange feeling, yet so familiar. The letter wasn't perfumed or anything, but she recognized this scent. For some reason it was as if it was meant to be found by her. She didn't know why, but she just knew. This was a feeling she hadn't felt for so long. Usagi started to read,_

**/End of Flashbacks\**

"… I realised that the letter was from you when I started to read the entry."

"So…"

"I didn't mean to read it. I'm sorry, but…" Usagi stuttered, seeing Seiya quiet.

"And you kept it all these years…"

"Hai… If you don't mind, I'd like to keep it." Usagi blushed.

"Did you like the poem?"

_"Poem?"_

"Yes, a poem. It was never a letter."

"_I loved it._ I'm sorry for never returning your feelings, but I had my reasons to why. I never wanted to hurt you…" Usagi exclaimed, but became sad when she remembered what the letter had contained.

"Odango, it's ok. I already knew from the beginning that I was in a one-sided love. Besides if being friend is what you only want, then I'm happy with it. Maybe I can't be close to you as a lover, but at least I still can be close to you as a best friend." Seiya smiled as he put his hand on top of Usagi's hand.

_"Seiya…"_ Usagi whispered as she blushed.

"Koneko-chan, why are you…" a familiar voice appeared behind her, but stopped on its sentence,

"What are you doing here?" Haruka snapped. Apparently she was surprised to see him back and at a fancy restaurant with her Koneko-chan. What was going on? Usagi tensed as she saw Haruka glaring furiously at Seiya.

"Oh no…" Usagi thought, surprised by the sudden appearance. She had to do something quick otherwise the restaurant would soon turn into a battlefield. And as if her prayers were answered, Michiru suddenly appeared. She put her hand gracefully on Haruka's shoulder and smiled as she looked at each and every one,

"Konbanwa Seiya-san! Konbanwa Usagi-chan!"

"Konbanwa, Michiru-san and hello to you too, Haruka-san." Seiya smiled towards Michiru, but smirked towards Haruka, which made Haruka even madder. She didn't dislike him. Oh no, she just hated that damn smirk that always mocked her. And she hated him for being so forward towards her Koneko-chan. Doesn't he have any idea?

"Cut the formalities, Kou, and tell me why you're back?" Haruka nearly shouted out in anger, causing disturbance from those who was sitting near and awkwardness in the group. At the same time Haruka earned a smack on the head by none other than her own lover.

"Haruka, don't be rude! It appears that he's visiting us and why can't he? After all, we did tell them that they could visit us whenever they want to." Michiru said and smiled, putting her index finger on her chin.

"But Michiru, he's an…"

"Come now, Haruka. Let's not disturb their lovely dinner. You promised me a romantic night and no fighting." Michiru smiled as she dragged Haruka away, winking at Usagi who started to blush once more.

"Michiru, chotto matte! Ow… you're hurting me, be gentle." Haruka whined, but stopped when Michiru pressed her finger on Haruka's lips and smiled,

"Oh, don't be such a baby. _I'll be gentle later…"_

* * *

**At the shrine**

After her confrontation with Yaten, she went all the way back home. She was supposed to have one of those meetings again with her father, but called and said that she didn't feel well and asked if they could re-schedule. Her father's new assistant had tried to change her mind, but shrugged it off and merely stated that this father-daughter dinner was going to be with a reporter. If he knew what was best for his career then he would let his daughter stay at home and rest, otherwise she might collapse right under the dinner and then unwanted questions would come up. After she said that, she had ignored the assistant's protests and hung up.

She wasn't really feeling bad like she told her father's assistant. In fact she lied, cause right now wasn't the time to attend the father-daughter dinner. Not after she had poured all her thoughts and feelings to a mere stranger, even though they were friends.

Attending their dinner would have ended in a disaster again, like the last time when Kaidou-san went and married another woman instead of her. Just like Minako, Rei was unfortunate when it had come to love. But then again, she had despised men since the beginning of time.

First was Jadeite, her lover from the past life, who had killed her cold bloodied. It couldn't be blamed though, he was brain washed but it wasn't an excuse. But when he was reborn, he had been evil and tried to kill her, just like his other comrades tried to kill her friends. That couldn't be accepted and when he died, she never shed a tear.

Then there was this second man who had a very big role in her life, her _own father_. She didn't hate him, she just doesn't want to forgive, and for good reasons. He had put his own career over his wife and daughter. When her mother was lying on the hospital, on her deathbed, he hadn't come. Rei waited and hoped that he would come to see her mother for the last time, but he never showed up. She was disappointed and soon her disappointment was replaced by anger and then hate. He had come with an excuse that he had to work over and to top it all, he had moved her from their house and to her grandpa'. Not only did she lose her mother, but also her home where it had her mother's scent and memories. His old assistant, who she couldn't remember the name of, had apologised and said that it was for the best since her father would work over and come home late. With that, he left. It didn't help that she looked at him directly in the eye with her innocent, big violet eyes. As soon as the man disappeared, she had started to cry on the steps of the shrine. She was afraid and lost, until her grandpa' came down the steps and comforted the little girl that reminded him so much of his late daughter.

Then there was man number three, Kaidou-san. He was her father's new assistant then. As soon as she saw him walk up on the steps of the shrine, holding a bouquet of her favourite flowers, she had fallen in love. She was young, but she knew it was love and he in return loved her. She was so sure that he would wait until she grew up and then marry her, because of their love. But little did she know what would come. She had just turned 13 and waited for Kaidou to appear with her favourite flowers and of course the usual white dress from her so called father. He had come just like before and they talked for long. Days after that, something happened and that was seeing Kaidou walking with a woman and they were laughing and looked like a real couple. It was later afterwards that Rei found out that he was engaged and to be married. She had been so heartbroken and what more bothered her was that whenever she imagined his face or stared at him on the pictures, Jadeite's face would appear and replace Kaidou's face.

And lastly, Mamoru Chiba. Before they found out the truth of their past, both were going out. When she let him go for Usagi's sake, she had thought that he would treat her well. But her theory crashed to the ground, when she and Minako found him in bed with another one.

Surely there were other guys, she'd been with, but none of them had big impact on her life like those four men. After that she had started to despise men and ignored their pleas and questions of getting a date with her. Of course there were exemptions, like her grandpa'. He had raised her, taught her the important things in life, and trained both her physical and psychical abilities. He was the father she had wanted. And not to forget, Yuuichirou. She didn't know why, but she found liking him. It took a long time before she realised it herself. For Yuuichirou it was love at first sight. No matter how much she yelled at him, threatened him, chased and hit him with a broomstick and even got in danger during her senshi duties, he had stood by her. He had helped her, gave her good advices and told her what he felt. It was at that point that Rei realized that maybe starting to love again wasn't a bad idea.

As Rei walked up the steps, she couldn't help but think. She loved Yuuichirou, but she also loved Minako. Before everything, Rei and Minako only needed each other and their friendship. But she had to forget the past and start living in the presence, before it started eating her. That's why she never thought of anything more about Minako's and her relationship. She had Yuuichirou now, and that was what she needed, but still she couldn't help but get jealous at times when seeing men stare at Minako or Minako run after men.

As she entered her home, she went directly to her room and changed. Today have been tiresome. Tomorrow she was going to townand buy the materials for her university. Her father disliked her change of school, but was proud when he heard that she kept her grades up and that she had been accepted to several universities, especially Tokyo's university. He had wanted her to take politics, but as expected, she had taken philosophy. She wanted to get back at him by choosing philosophy, but she also chose the course cause it'd caught her interest. At first he was furious, but then calmed himself down because that was the next best thing and he accepted that. And to show that he was proud, he had given her a credit card on her graduation and said that he was going to pay for the bills, no matter how high it was.

Rei saw this as a nice gesture, but still didn't forgive him. She wasn't easily bought, but she accepted it cause she needed money for her tuition and materials and other things and she didn't want to burden her grandpa'. Sure she had her other job as Minako's songwriter and it gave a nice, hefty salary, but that salary went to the shrine.

Rei walked out of her room and into the bathroom. She was going to take a nice, warm bath before going to bed.

-

Rei had dozed off quickly after the bath. She was more tired than she had thought and went directly to sleep.

Hours passed and Rei started to rock back and forth in her sleep. She was dreaming, but by the look on her face it didn't seem like a pleasant dream. Sweat beads fell on her forehead as words escaped from her lips. All of a sudden she opens her eyes and looked at the ceiling. After a moment of staring she closed her eyes again and went back into dreaming.

**/Dream Sequence **

_Rei was walking through a long hallway. It was dark and narrow. Rei continued walking, but suddenly got a strange feeling of that someone was following after her. Turning around, she saw no one. She continued to walk, but then started to hear sounds of clicking from a pair of shoes. _

_"Who's there?" _

_"Show yourself!" _

_"I know someone's out there!" Rei yelled in the dark. _

_Turning back towards her destination, she mumbled, _

_"When I get my hands on you, whoever you are, I'm going to bang your head up to the ceiling, and rip you limb from limb. And then serve them as steaks." _

_Rei continued walking and she was even muttering curses at the unknown person, when she sees the hallway separate into two different ways. Rei didn't know which way to take, so she took the left one. But then suddenly, a voice started echoing through the halls, _

_"You're going the wrong way." _

_Rei turned around to see whom it was, but saw that no one was there. Determined to find out who it was, she continued on the left side but was once again stopped by the same voice that had warned her earlier. _

_"You're still going the wrong way." _

_The voice was serene and melodious. It reminded her of someone she knew, but couldn't place a finger on whom. _

_"Who are you? Why should I listen to you, when you don't even show yourself?" Rei cried. _

_"You'll find out soon, if you listen to me." said the voice. _

_Rei sighed and admitted to herself that she didn't have any choices and therefore took the other way. She hoped that the voice wasn't misleading her, cause if it did, then she would find the owner of it and then he or she would feel the wrath of Mars. _

_As she kept walking through the dark corridor, she suddenly sees a light at the end of it.Rei strted to run towards it and while she was running she felt lighter and lighter. It was like she was floating among the clouds instead of running through a hallway. And there at the end, she saw a woman. _

_The woman was beautiful and looked majestic. She was walking elegantly while her lower part of the dress flowed. Her hair looked like spun gold, which shone in the light and flowed gracefully. Who was she? Was she an angel? Did Rei die in her sleep and then went on to heaven? _

_Rei couldn't see who it was, but she could guess that the person was smiling at her. Walking towards the person, she saw, _

_"U… Usagi? Usa-chan, is that you?" _

_"Rei-chan! So how was your vacation?" Usagi asked smiling. _

_"Vacation? What are you talking about, Usa-chan! And what's with the dress?" Rei asked, while looking at Usagi from top to toe. _

_Usagi was wearing a dress that reminded her of Neo-Queen Serenity's dress. But instead of those shimmering butterfly wings, she had real angelical wings. Around her neck hung a golden moon pendant, with a blue star in the middle of it. And her crown was kind of different too. It was more like a tiara made out of diamonds with a golden moon pendant in the middle and on top of it was a blue star. _

_"What's what with my dress? Are you feeling okay? " _

_"Huh? What?" _

_"Oh dear. Maybe you should rest. The trip must have exhausted you. I'll go tell them that you can't go with them to the park tod…" but Usagi was cut off of her sentence, when two little kids ran to Rei, each one hugging her legs. _

_"Mommy!" a raven-haired girl squealed cheerfully, while the blonde girl laughed and said, _

_"Aunt Rei! Aunt Rei! You're back! How was your visit on Mars?" _

_"Huh?" Rei was clueless on who these little girls were. _

_Both of them seemed to be six years old. They looked like night and day, just like she and Usagi. The girl, who called her "Mommy", had raven hair, which flowed freely behind her back, but her eyes were blue. The other girl had her silvery blonde hair up into two pigtails and had indigo eyes. _

_"Girls. Rei can't take you to the park today." Usagi said to the girls. _

_"Oh, mommy. Why not? Keiko-chan and I wanted to see all the flowers," the blonde girl pouted. _

_"Because, small lady, aunt Rei is tired from her trip. Maybe we can all go tomorrow instead and look at the flowers?" suggested Usagi. _

_"Okay, mommy. Oooh, I forgot! Daddy wanted to give you this." The blonde girl said, taking out a red rose. _

_Usagi accepted the rose and said, _

_"Oh, what a beautiful rose. Can you say thank you to daddy for me?" _

_"Okay." The little girl smiled at Usagi. _

_"ChibiUsa-chan! C'mon now, maybe we can play with aunt Minako, aunt Makoto and aunt Ami." suggested Keiko. _

_As the girls ran, Rei could have sworn that the blonde girl's hair shone pink while the other girl's hair shone red. After the girls had gone, Rei turned to Usagi and said, _

_"Was… was that… Is that my daughter? And the other girl is ChibiUsa? Your… Your daughter?" _

_But before Usagi could answer to all Rei's questions, it suddenly got dimmed and Rei fell into a bottomless pit. _

She was screaming for help, but no one could hear her. When Rei started to think that she was going to hit the bottom, she woke up. Sweat pearls were streaming down on her forehead, as she was breathing hard. She could feel her heart beat fast. Who was that girl that looked so much like Usagi. Was she ChibiUsa? But why was she blonde? Weren't she supposed to have pink hair? Who's the father then? And who was the other girl? Was it her future daughter?

Rei was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't notice the sun rising. She had to find out if Usagi really loved Seiya. The thought of the future changing had scared her, but after seeing her dream she didn't feel frightened now like she did before.

Rei went and took a shower before changing into her temple outfit. Outside was her grandfather training with Yuuichirou. Rei smiled and went to do her chores. Maybe she'll stop by Usagi's gallery later and see if Usagi was there. Then maybe she could ask her.

* * *

**At the art gallery **

Usagi was hanging up her paintings, when she saw a picture that wasn't meant to be there. She held it up and looked at it as she smiled sadly. The painting was of a woman stretching out her hand to the night sky. Reaching for a star that seemed so far away. It looked like she was trying really hard to reach it, by the look in her eyes. Determination, sorrow, love and fear showed all the same time. As she was trying hard to reach it chains were around her feet, her hands, all over her body. Winds were swirling around her.

Usagi put down the painting and wiped away a few tears. Weren't she already happy with Mamoru? Didn't she have a bright future? Why was she so unhappy? Or was she selfish? Thoughts ran through her mind. Questions that she needed answers to, but couldn't find.

"No, I'm only being selfish. Stop it Usagi-baka!" Usagi said to herself, putting down the painting.

As she continued to hang up more paintings she heard the door open. Turning around she saw Rei. She gave her a smile before turning back to her work.

"What? No _hi, how are you?_" Rei teased as she raised a brow.

"Hi, how are you?" Usagi then replied.

"I'm fine, thank you. And you?"

"I'm fine."

"A lot to do?"

"Iie, this is the last one." Usagi said.

"Okay, need some help?"

"No thanks, I got it." Usagi answered as she hung the last painting.

"Usa-chan, want to eat lunch?"

"Sure, I'm a bit hungry. I didn't had the time to eat this morning because of the paintings." Usagi said as she went to get her bag.

-

As they walked out of the gallery, Rei sensed something and turned around. Usagi noticed that Rei was tensed and asked,

"Is everything okay?"

Rei stood for a moment and looked at a different direction. Something was going to happen. She didn't know what, but it gave her the shivers. It was a presence, a negative one. It wasn't an evil presence, she would've recognised it. No, this was a human and it was filled with hatred. Rei thought that this was odd. Could a person really be filled with so much hate that someone like her would sense this? She was worried and thought that she would ask the sacred fire later for answers.

Rei suddenly felt a hand and remembered that Usagi was with her. She turned to Usagi and smiled as if nothing had happened,

"Huh? Oh, yes everything's fine. I just… well, never mind."

The two women walked towards Usagi's car and soon drove off. A few metres away stood the same shadowy figure that was hiding among the trees earlier at Usagi's house.

_"Soon I'll get what should have been mine a long time ago." _

-

Usagi and Rei drove off to the Crown. As they went inside they see Motoki talking to his sister Unazuki. It seems like Motoki was talking of something important with his sisters because of the look she was giving him. Unazuki suddenly spots Usagi and Rei and wave at them, leaving her brother behind.

"Konnichiwa Motoki-kun o Unazuki-chan." Usagi and Rei greeted.

"Hi Usagi-chan, Rei-chan!" Unazuki smiled as she hugged each of them.

"Ogenki desu-ka?" Motoki greeted as he walked up to them.

"We're fine." Rei smiled.

"Do you want to order something?" Unazuki requested.

"Yes, I'll have a cheeseburger with fries and a diet coke. What do you want Usagi?"

"I think I'll have two double cheeseburgers with large fries, fried chicken, one strawberry milkshake and one diet coke and strawberry shortcake." Usagi ordered eagerly and laughed, while Rei, Unazuki and Motoki sweat dropped.

"Sure, I'll come with them later." Unazuki smiled as she trailed off.

Usagi smiled and turned her attention to Motoki. Motoki stared at her for a second and said,

"By the way, Usagi-chan. Did Mamoru-san call you?"

"No, I haven't heard from him since he left." Usagi replied, looking down at her feet trying not to show the disappointment.

"That's weird. He should have called you as soon as he arrived." Motoki frowned.

"Well, you all know Mamoru-san. Always busy." Rei said, forcing up a smile as she thought,

_"He's busy alright. Busy screwing with that trash." _

-

**Minutes later **

Usagi, Unazuki and Motoki were happily chatting about her upcoming event. Rei was sitting quietly thinking, when she suddenly sat up straight and looked into nothing. Motoki, Usagi and Unazuki noticed this and waved a hand in front of Rei's face, but got no response. All of a sudden, Rei started to breathe heavily, which scared her friends. Usagi shook her a couple of times before Rei woke up from her state. Rei shrugged and saw Usagi's terrified eyes and Unazuki's and Motoki's worried looks.

"What?"

"Rei-chan you were breathing hard a couple of seconds ago. What happened?" Motoki asked worried as Unazuki nodded her head.

"Ehm… nothing."

"Nothing? Are you sure? Are you okay?"

"Hai, Motoki-kun. Gomen-nasai if I scared you all to death."

"It's okay, you really got us worried. Do you want me to take you home?" Usagi requested.

Rei nodded and said,

"Okay, I think I'm a bit tired."

Usagi and Rei said goodbye to Motoki and Unazuki, reassuring them that they will be fine. Usagi helped Rei into the car and drove off. As Usagi was driving, Rei thought of what she had seen earlier. Did she just have another premonition? But compared to the dream she had hours ago, this was scaring.

**/Flashbacks**

_Rei was running through a thick fog. _

_"Help!" a voice cried out. It was full of fear and sorrow. _

_"Who are you? How can I help you?" Rei cried out as she turned around trying to see the person. _

_"Help me!" the voice cried, as it went further and further away. _

_"Wait!" _

_Rei was running, not caring to where she was running. _

_"Somebody, please!"_

_A scream was heard, then silence._

_"NO! Wait!" Rei panicked as she ran faster to where she heard the scream. _

_As she neared the spot, she saw a woman hanging in the air. Chains were around her hands and arms. The woman seemed to be beaten up as if someone had tortured her. Rei couldn't see her face, so she went closer. As she went closer she noticed that the woman chest was bleeding. She also noticed that the woman had blonde hair. Pulling away a few hair strains, she saw the woman's face. _

_"U… Usagi?" Rei gasped. _

_Usagi's face was full of bruises and it looked like she has been crying because of the tearstains. _

_"Usa, no!" Rei cried as she tried to free her dear friend from the chains, but without any luck. _

_"Noooo…!" Rei screamed in agony as tears fell down her cheeks._

**/End of Flashbacks**

"Kami-sama, please let not _this one_ premonition go true." Rei prayed silently as she looked out through the window. She then looked at Usagi who was driving and said,

"Usa-chan, could you please drive to the park. There's something I have to ask."

"Sure, Rei." Usagi nodded and turned.

-----

**At the park**

Usagi and Rei sat at a nearby bench. They were in silent when they drove to the park and when they got out and walked from the car.

"So what was it you wanted to ask me about?"

"Usagi-chan, I have to know." Rei said out loud, causing her friend to frown.

"Okay…?"

"You love Seiya-kun, don't you?" Rei asked.

Usagi stared at Rei for a moment, shocked over the question,

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, by the look in your eyes and plus that I've been knowing you for so long that I can sense that you're trying to hide something. And right now, a million thoughts are disturbing you, am I right?"

"Yes…" Usagi looked down for a minute and sighed,

"I don't know, but I think I'm falling in love with him. Please don't get angry with me, but I can't help it. But… but I'm trying my best not to 'cause… "

"Why should I be angry with you? It's your feelings not mine. I don't decide who you have feelings for, but I wished you could have told me sooner instead of hiding it. Then maybe I could have helped you instead of seeing you become more and more distant." Rei gave Usagi a sympathetic smile.

"I know, but I had to."

"For Chibi-Usa's sake, right?"

"Maybe I'm being selfish? I mean who wouldn't want this future."

"You don't."

"You feel trapped, don't you?"

"Yes, but I'm horrible by thinking of not following the path that was meant for me." Usagi said out loud as she tried to hold back her tears.

"Usa, don't say that! You're not horrible and you're definitely not selfish." Rei exclaimed.

"You're warm and kind and generous. Heck, it should be us who should be called selfish. We wanted you to stay with Mamoru-san, when we really knew that you didn't want to. And for what? Because we wanted to live in that future."

"Rei, it's not like I don't want to stay with Mamo-chan, but it seems like we've been drifting apart lately."

_"You have no idea." _Rei thought.

"Rei, what am I going to do? I feel torn apart. I feel like I'm being caught in the middle of nowhere. And either which way I choose, I only end up hurting the other one."

"Usa-chan, that's how life goes. Some things that we do may bring joy to some and those decisions can hurt some, whether we like it or not. You know what? You should do what your heart tells you to do! God, we're not senshis of love for no reason." Rei smiled as she held Usagi's hands.

Suddenly it started to blow hard and out of nowhere two cats fell from the sky and onto Rei's and Usagi's head. Rei and Usagi, who didn't see that coming, fell backwards on each other. The cats jumped down from their head. One was white, while the other one was black and both had a moon crest on each foreheads. Usagi recognized them as Artemis and Luna and said,

"Luna, back early? I thought you wouldn't come back from the future until next week?"

The black cat stepped forward, worries were shown all over her face as she replied,

"Usagi-chan, something happened!"

"What!" Both Usagi and Rei sat up quickly.

"The future is falling apart!" Artemis started to tell.

"What do you mean falling apart?" Rei replied angrily.

"We don't know when it happened, but it was horrible. We saw the scouts' death, the Crystal Tokyo's downfall." Luna cried.

"King Endymion vanished and for Chibi-Usa… she faded away quickly."

"The queen, Artemis and I were the only ones left."

"Darkness surrounded us, especially the queen. She fought hard against it, but then soon fell on her knees out of exhaustion." Artemis held his head down.

"She used her last strengths to send us back here, but before we got through the tunnel we saw the queen grasping for air before… before…" Luna cried.

"Before what? Luna? Artemis? Before what? What happened to Neo-Queen Serenity?" Rei asked worried, fears were showing on her face.

"We saw a black fog surrounding the queen. She used the silver crystal and then we saw her fall into oblivion. And after that we saw a bright light and then nothing."

"And before we knew it, we fell out of the sky and landing on your heads." Artemis ended.

The cats turned to Usagi, wanting to ask her of what had happened while they were gone. Something must have happened and the moment they turned their heads towards Usagi, they saw fear and sadness. A few tears fell down as Usagi wiped them away quickly. Shaking her head she stood up and said,

"It's me. I'm the cause of it. It's happened…"

"Usa-chan, don't say that. We don't know that yet." Rei said, trying to calm the blonde.

"No, it's me! I'm the one who has caused it and because of my actions, the future, the people, Chibi-Usa. All of them paid the price."

"Usagi-chan, please calm down. We'll sort things out." Artemis said.

"No. We can't sort this thing out. What's done is done and nothing we can do or say can erase the fact of that I caused the destruction. I'm… I'm sorry!"

And with that Usagi started to run away from them, crying. Rei and the cats started to run after her. Usagi was too sad to even notice that something was coming at her. Too late she noticed the car that was driving fast. Usagi barely had the chance to run out of the way when she got hit. The last things she thought of before darkness engulfed her was,

_"Chibi-Usa… I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, Seiya…" _

"USAGI!.!.!" Rei, Luna and Artemis screamed as they saw in horror a red car hit Usagi.

* * *

**A/N: **Here's the chapter eight everybody! Hope you liked it, especially Rei revealing her feelings about Minako. I was fascinated of the friendship between those two from both manga and pgsm, and from those rumours about them having a special relationship in both manga and pgsm. And Ayaka Komatsu, Sailor Venus from PGSM, sang "Cross my heart". First time I heard it, I was stunned cause this was Ayaka Komatsu singing a song in English and how good her song was. A bit 80ish style, but I love it. I thought that the song would be perfect, because Minako Aino was after all good with English and this is the type of song that she would sing. And the lyrics were perfect for the love Rei, Yaten and Alex has towards Minako and vice versa. 

Ooh… and the meeting between Ryo and Taiki. D I'm being mean towards Ami. And Usagi and Seiya's discussion. Ohohoho… I'm just getting started, but sadly I kept Usagi's accident too. I told you that I'd keep some from the old story, but have surprises. There'll be more surprises in the next chapters, especially the Alex-Minako-Yaten-Rei love problem and the love triangle between Taiki, Ami and Ryo. Probably I'll be bringing Mamoru back and more outers will take part in the later chapters.

**Don't forget to R/R!**

Also right now, I'm working with a new story. And for those who love the shittenou/senshi pairing, I will soon post the new story with Rei and Jadeite!

Ja!

**/Moonlight Bunny**


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